Kenya

📖 In short

Kenya is a country in East Africa with the equator running through its middle. It has a beautiful coast on the Indian Ocean, wide plains where lions, elephants and giraffes live, and high mountains. Its capital is Nairobi.

🤩 Did you know?

The capital is Nairobi, Kenya's biggest city.
Kenya's currency is the Kenyan shilling.
About 75% of Kenya's people live in the highlands.
The word “safari” is Swahili and means “journey”.

🗂️ Fact file

Kenya's flag was chosen in 1963. The black stripe stands for the Kenyan people, red for their struggle for independence and green for farming, while the shield and two spears stand for defending freedom.

Kenya's emblem carries the word for “pulling together” in Swahili.

Capital: Nairobi.
Official language: The official language is English, and the national language is Swahili.
Official name: Jamhuri ya Kenya (Republic of Kenya).
Currency: The Kenyan shilling.
Area: 580,367 km².
Population: 32,577,000 people according to the 2000 estimate. The 1989 census counted 21,443,636 people.

🔎 Find out more

🌟 Land of wild animals

Kenya has famous nature reserves that people visit on safari to see animals in the wild. Every year millions of animals cross the river in a great, wonderful migration.

🔍 Mount Kenya

Mount Kenya is near the equator, and yet its top is covered with snow! It's the second-highest mountain in Africa, and the country is named after it.

💡 Languages and peoples

Many peoples live in Kenya, each with its own customs, like the Maasai, famous for their red clothes and high jumps. People speak Swahili and English.