The vast majority of the population live in the rugged highland areas in the southwest quarter of the country, where the ridges are a mix of shamba smallholdings and plantations. Running through the heart of these highlands sprawls the Great Rift Valley , an archetypal East African scene of dry, thorn tree savannah, splashed with lakes and studded by volcanoes. It's great walking country, as are the high forests and moors of the Central Highlands and Mount Kenya itself - a major target and a feasible climb for most people. Nairobi , the capital, on the highlands' southern edge, is generally used only as a gateway to Kenya, but has plenty of diversions to occupy your time while arranging an onward trip. The national parks and reserves , watered by seasonal streams, are mostly located in savannah country on the highland fringes.

Further west, towards Lake Victoria , lies gentler countryside, where you can travel for days without seeing another foreign visitor and get perhaps the best immersion in Kenyan life and culture. Beyond the rolling tea plantations of Kericho and the hot plains around the port of Kisumu lies the steep volcanic massif of Mount Elgon , astride the Ugandan border. The little-known Kakamega Forest rainforest reserve, with its unique wildlife, is here too, and more than enough reason to strike out west.

In the north, the land is desert or semi-desert, broken only by the highlight of Lake Turkana in the north west, almost unnaturally blue and gigantic in the wilderness. Although northeast Kenya, towards the Somalian border, is currently unsafe for travellers, the routes up to Turkana are still open, and you can even get there by public transport. For serious adventure, it is one of the most spectacular and memorable of all African regions.

Separating Kenya's interior - or "up-country" - from the Indian Ocean, the arid Maungu Plains form a barrier which accounts in large part for the separate history and culture of the coast . Here, a distinct Islamic Swahili civilization exists with a long historical record in its mosques and tombs and the ruins of several ancient towns cut from the jungle, while along the length of the coast, beyond the white sandy beaches - invariably shaded by coconut palms or casuarina trees - runs an almost continuous coral reef, protecting a shallow, safe lagoon from the Indian Ocean.