The Republic of Kenya is an east African country. Kenya borders Ethiopia in the north, Somalia to the east, the Indian Ocean in the south east and is bisected east and west by the equator. Other than the counties adjacent to Homa Bay on the shores of Lake Victoria most of the land south and west of Nairobi are a part of the East African Rift (EAR.) In Kenya the EAR extends from Tanzania in the south and to Lake Victoria in the south west, then north along the western border with Uganda to South Sudan and Lake Turkana. Both Lake Victoria and Lake Turkana have large and active artisanal fisheries as do the fishing communities that are on the Indian Ocean coast.
English and Swahili are the principal languages used in Kenya, however, there are more than 67 distinct languages spoken here.
Kenya has a rich abundance of wildlife, languages and people groups that thrive from its fishing communities on the Indian Ocean through its vast savannahs, its woodlands and from the bottom of the Great Rift Valley to the top of Mount Kenya and even into Trubi & Chalbi deserts. All of these cultures have a history of interacting with the wildlife in Kenya as old as time itself. In the past these interactions with wildlife have more or less been in balance. However, the great increases of human populations have upset the balance of the human/wildlife interactions and the over-exploitation of Kenya’s resources have been the result.
The terrestrial and marine wildlife and resources of Kenya are the heritage of all Kenyan’s and it is ours to protect for our children’s future. Nashipai Larina (Maasai)
