Wikijunior:Africa/Kenya

Coat of Arms of Kenya

Location of Kenya

Kenya (Swahili: Jamhuri ya Kenya), officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in Eastern Africa.

Geography

Elephants are one of the most popular animals in Kenya

Kenya is north of Tanzania, south of Ethiopia, east of Uganda, west of Somalia and south east of South Sudan. The climate of Kenya is warm and humid due to its close proximity to the Indian Ocean. Kenya covers an area of 224,081 square miles and, thereby, is the 47th largest country in the world. Mount Kenya (the second-highest mountain in Africa after Kilimanjaro in Tanzania), at 17,057 feet, is the site of majestic glaciers.

The most famous Kenyan wild animals are lions, baboons, elephants, giraffe, crocodile, and buffalo. Zebras are also prominent in Kenya.

People

Both English and Swahili are spoken in Kenya as well as many other lannguages.

Sights

• Nairobi National Park, established in 1900. is a reserve for many wildlife species in Kenya. The National Park is close to the capital city of Nairobi. The unique ecosystem has several vegetative, such as open grasslands with massive rivers. Manmade dams at the park have been a favorite habitat to many species of birds. Some famous wildlife in this park is the black rhinos, lions, leopards, cheetahs, hyenas, buffaloes, giraffes, zebras, wildebeests, elands and with over 400 records of species of birdlife. This park covers an area of 117 Kilometers and is warm throughout the year.
• Fort Jesus, a fort built by the Portuguese when Portugal settled in Kenya from 1953 to 1956, is an outstanding historical site (UNESCO set Fort Jesus as a historical site) for digging deeper in Kenya's exquisite history. The fort covers 2.36 hectares of land.