When people talk about the greatest destinations on the African continent, Kenya almost always tops the list — and for very good reason. The sheer variety of things to do in Kenya is staggering. This is a country where you can watch a million wildebeest thunder across a river at dawn, stand at the foot of Mount Kenya’s glaciated peaks by midday, and sip sundowners on a dhow off the coast of Lamu by evening. Kenya is not a single experience. It is dozens of experiences layered on top of one another, woven together by extraordinary landscapes, diverse wildlife, a rich tapestry of cultures, and a warm, open-hearted people who have welcomed the world’s travellers for generations. Whether you are a first-time visitor or a returning explorer, the things to do in Kenya will surprise, move, and fundamentally change the way you see the natural world. Here is a guide to the experiences that define this remarkable country.
Top Exciting Things To Do In Kenya
Witness the Great Wildebeest Migration in the Maasai Mara
No list of things to do in Kenya would be complete without the Great Wildebeest Migration, widely regarded as one of the greatest wildlife spectacles on earth. Every year, more than 1.5 million wildebeest, accompanied by hundreds of thousands of zebra and gazelle, move in a continuous loop between Tanzania’s Serengeti and Kenya’s Maasai Mara in search of fresh grazing. The most dramatic chapter unfolds between July and October, when the herds reach the Mara River and must cross its crocodile-filled waters in explosive, chaotic surges that have to be witnessed in person to be fully believed. A game drive in the Mara during migration season is unlike anything else on earth — raw, unpredictable, and utterly humbling.
Go on a Marine Tour Along Kenya’s Indian Ocean Coast
Among the most rewarding yet underrated things to do in Kenya is exploring the country’s spectacular marine environment, which stretches along one of East Africa’s most biodiverse coastlines. Kenya’s marine parks and reserves — including Watamu Marine National Park, Malindi Marine National Park, Kisite-Mpunguti Marine Park near Shimoni, and the waters around Mombasa — offer world-class snorkelling, scuba diving, glass-bottom boat tours, dolphin watching, and deep-sea fishing expeditions that rival any marine destination in the Indian Ocean. The coral reefs teem with sea turtles, reef sharks, rays, and an astonishing variety of tropical fish, while seasonal whale shark sightings between October and March draw divers and snorkellers from across the globe. A marine tour along Kenya’s coast is not merely a beach add-on — it is an entirely distinct and deeply immersive dimension of what this extraordinary country has to offer.
Climb Mount Kenya
Africa’s second-highest mountain and one of the continent’s most rewarding trekking destinations, Mount Kenya rises to 5,199 metres at its highest navigable peak, Lenana, and draws climbers and trekkers from around the world every year. Unlike Kilimanjaro, Mount Kenya offers multiple routes of varying difficulty — from the technical rock faces of Batian and Nelion to the more accessible Point Lenana trek that experienced hikers in good physical condition can reach without specialist climbing gear. The mountain’s changing ecosystems, from dense bamboo forest and moorland to surreal Afro-alpine terrain studded with giant lobelias and groundsels, make the ascent as remarkable as the summit itself.
Explore Amboseli National Park and the Elephants of Kilimanjaro
Amboseli National Park in southern Kenya delivers one of Africa’s most iconic visual compositions: vast herds of free-ranging African elephants moving across open plains with the snow-capped summit of Mount Kilimanjaro rising dramatically across the Tanzanian border behind them. Amboseli’s elephants are among the most studied and well-habituated in Africa, meaning encounters are extraordinarily intimate. The park also supports large populations of lions, cheetahs, buffalo, and over 600 bird species. For photographers and wildlife enthusiasts alike, Amboseli is one of the most rewarding parks on the continent.
Experience Maasai Culture and Community Life
Kenya is home to the Maasai people, one of Africa’s most recognised and culturally resilient communities, whose traditional way of life across the savannah landscapes of southern Kenya and northern Tanzania has endured for centuries alongside rapidly changing modern pressures. Visiting a traditional Maasai boma — a community homestead — offers insight into a world of extraordinary richness: intricate beadwork, warrior traditions, communal cattle herding, and a relationship with the land that is both ancient and deeply practical. Many conservancies and lodges across the Mara region offer genuine, community-led cultural experiences that go well beyond the performative and into the truly illuminating.
Relax on the Beaches of Diani and Watamu
Kenya’s Indian Ocean coastline stretches for nearly 600 kilometres and encompasses some of East Africa’s most beautiful beaches, with the white-sand shores of Diani Beach near Mombasa and the quieter, reef-fringed coves of Watamu further north standing out as particular highlights. Diani is a well-developed resort destination offering world-class snorkelling, kite-surfing, and deep-sea fishing alongside beachfront accommodation ranging from budget guesthouses to luxury boutique hotels. Watamu, by contrast, sits within a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and attracts travellers drawn by its Marine National Park, nesting sea turtles, and the extraordinary whale shark season that runs between October and March each year.
Take a Hot Air Balloon Over the Maasai Mara
For those who want to see the Maasai Mara from a perspective that no game drive can offer, a hot air balloon safari at sunrise is one of Kenya’s most breathtaking experiences. Drifting silently over the golden savannah as the first light breaks across the plains, with herds of animals visible far below and the Mara River winding through the landscape like a silver ribbon, is an experience of rare and lasting beauty. Most balloon safaris conclude with a champagne bush breakfast in the field — a civilised and deeply memorable way to begin a morning in one of the world’s great wilderness areas.
Visit Nairobi National Park and the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust
Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, is the only city in the world with a functioning national park on its doorstep — and Nairobi National Park, just a short drive from the city centre, offers genuine big game viewing, including lions, rhinos, buffalo, and giraffe, against the improbable backdrop of a modern urban skyline. Within the city itself, the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust runs one of Africa’s most celebrated elephant orphan rehabilitation programmes, where visitors can watch infant elephants rescued from the wild being cared for by dedicated keepers before their eventual return to natural habitat. It is an emotional, uplifting, and deeply important experience that speaks to the heart of what Kenya’s conservation story is all about.
Go Birdwatching in Lake Nakuru and the Rift Valley
Kenya is one of the world’s premier birdwatching destinations, with over 1,100 recorded species — more than the whole of North America — distributed across habitats ranging from highland forest and open savannah to volcanic lakes and coastal mangroves. Lake Nakuru National Park in the Rift Valley is famous for its spectacular concentrations of flamingos and pelicans, as well as its healthy populations of both black and white rhinos, making it one of Kenya’s most rewarding parks for combining birding with broader wildlife viewing. The broader Rift Valley lakes system — including Lakes Bogoria, Baringo, and Elementaita — offers serious birders an extraordinary range of species in a geologically dramatic landscape unlike anywhere else on earth.
Explore the Ancient Town of Lamu and the Swahili Coast
One of the most culturally fascinating things to do in Kenya is visiting Lamu, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the oldest and best-preserved Swahili settlements in East Africa. Located on Lamu Island off Kenya’s northern coast, this medieval town of narrow winding lanes, carved wooden doors, whitewashed coral-stone buildings, and rooftop terraces has changed little in centuries. There are no cars on the island — donkeys and dhows remain the primary modes of transport — and the pace of life is an immediate and welcome antidote to the modern world. Visitors can tour the Lamu Fort, explore the waterfront market, take a traditional dhow sunset cruise, and engage with a living culture shaped by centuries of Arab, Persian, Indian, and Bantu exchange.
Trek Through the Aberdare Ranges and Stay in a Tree Hotel
The Aberdare mountain range in central Kenya offers some of the country’s most dramatic highland scenery, with mist-shrouded peaks, cascading waterfalls, deep forested valleys, and an exceptional density of wildlife including elephant, buffalo, leopard, and the rare bongo antelope. What makes the Aberdares particularly distinctive among the things to do in Kenya is the tradition of tree hotels — elevated lodges built above forest clearings and waterholes where wildlife gathers through the night. Treetops and The Ark are the most famous of these, offering guests the extraordinary experience of watching a parade of nocturnal wildlife from illuminated platforms while the forest breathes and moves in the darkness below.
Visit Samburu National Reserve and Discover the Special Five
In Kenya’s rugged northern frontier, Samburu National Reserve delivers a safari experience that is rawer, wilder, and more remote than the famous parks of the south — and it is one of the most rewarding things to do in Kenya for travellers seeking something beyond the well-trodden Mara circuit. Samburu is famous for its “Special Five” — a group of species found here but rarely seen further south: the Grevy’s zebra, reticulated giraffe, Somali ostrich, beisa oryx, and gerenuk, the long-necked antelope that browses standing upright on its hind legs. The Ewaso Ng’iro River that bisects the reserve draws elephants, lions, leopards, and crocodiles to its banks, making it one of Kenya’s most reliably productive wildlife destinations at any time of year.
From the thunder of the migration to the silence of an ocean sunrise, the things to do in Kenya span every register of human experience — wildlife, culture, coastline, mountain, and community. Whether you are planning your first visit or returning for the tenth time, Kenya always reveals something new and something that stays with you long after you have left.
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