Kenya:
If Kenya could avoid ethnic strife and lower its population growth rate (which is the highest in Africa), it would have a better chance of developing into an even richer country. It has a broad manufacturing base, a relatively high GNP, and makes a lot of foreign exchange through coffee and tea exports and through tourism.
In December 2002, voters kicked out the party of retiring President Daniel arap Moi. He'd held this position for 24 years. The new president will be Mwai Kibaki, a former finance minister who promises to tackle corruption, poverty and authoritarian rule.
Tourists go to Kenya mainly to go on safaris or to visit the beaches, but the Great Rift Valley is also a tourism magnet. This is an immense crack in the surface of the Earth, that stretches from the Jordan river through Africa down to the Zambezi River. The northern parts of Kenya are desert, and there's a green belt in the southeast along the coast.
Nairobi is a huge city with a modern city centre of skyscrapers and office buildings, but it also has some of the worst slums on the continent. This points up the vast gulf between the poorest Kenyans and the wealthy class. And that's why the city is rather dangerous, with a high crime rate.
This page last updated December 30, 2002.