The bleeding obvious Kenya activity is the safari, but there are many ways to safari. For something different, Camel safaris - in the Samburu and Turkana tribal areas between Isiolo and Lake Turkana - must rate as the most unforgettable. The country's most talked about wildlife park is the quintessential Masai Mara National Reserve west of Nairobi. Other highly rated parks include the Amboseli for its backdrop of Mt Kilimanjaro, the dense Kakamega with its 330-plus species of birds and the equally fecund soda lakes of Baringo or Nakuru.

For trekking, Mt Kenya tends to be the place and offers a range of routes, while getting to one of its higher peaks, Point Lenana, requires no climbing skills. Less trampled hiking vistas include Mt Elgon on the Ugandan border, and even the Ngong Hills near Nairobi (with an armed escort, though). Kenya is famous for its game-fishing opportunities off the coast around Malindi, and white-water rafting on the blood-curdling Athi/Galana River is becoming increasingly popular. For a superb, silent aerial overview of the Mara and Serengeti, several lodges in the Masai Mara National Reserve offer ballooning. Around coastal towns such as Malindi and the Lamu Archipelago, there's plenty of diving, windsurfing and good old beach lazing to be had.

Kenya's most spectacular annual event is organised by an unlikely group - wildebeests. Literally millions of these ungainly antelopes move en masse in July and August from the Serengeti in search of lush grass. They head south again around October. The best place to see this phenomenon is at the Masai Mara National Reserve. Kenya's more orthodox annual events include public holidays such as Kenyatta Day (20 October) and Independence Day (12 December).