Tourism is Kenya's largest foreign exchange earner. Kenya's natural endowments in wildlife, its pleasant climate, beautiful scenery, sandy beaches, developed hotel infrastructure and hospitable people have made the country a major tourist destination. In 1997 the country experienced a decline of tourist arrivals due partly to the deterioration of the infrastructure as a result of the El Niño phenomenon and partly to the adverse publicity in the international media.

The Government is committed to providing an enabling environment for tourism and has established the Kenya Tourist Board, a state corporation, which works together with the private sector to promote tourism. The Board has embarked on a successful tourism promotion which has led to the industry's recovery from the slump and is now on a growth path. Alongside the traditional tourist attractions of the seaside and wildlife safari, are other destinations like cultural heritage tours, photography and art safaris, ornithological tours, Eco tourism and sports.

The Kenya Tourist Board can be reached through:
Kenya Tourist Board
P.O. Box 30630
Nairobi, Kenya
Tel. 00254-2-604245/604246
Fax. 00254-2-501096
E-mail: info@kenyatourism.org
URL: www.magicalkenya.com

Tourists flocked to watch the unlikely pair. A lioness in Kenya has adopted another baby oryx - her third in as many months, game wardens at the northern Samburu National Park have reported. The lioness is said to allow a female oryx several minutes each day to feed the new-born calf.

The last calf was killed while she was sleeping. The oryx would normally represent a tasty meal to a lion, but this is not the first time the lioness has placed a calf under her protection. One was seen in her company in December last year, but it was eaten by other lions after two weeks. Another calf was taken away from her in February and placed in a zoo because it showed signs of malnourishment.

Dangers
The chief game warden in Samburu, Simon Leirana, said that the lioness was seen with a baby oryx no more then three days old early on Saturday. "We are baffled. We do not know what to do with this third oryx," said Mr Leirana. Lions, like all the other species, including human beings, have this kind of feelings for babies

Conservationist Daphne Sheldrick said wildlife officials might decide to let nature take its course, leaving the calf to take its chances with starvation or other predators. The lioness is said to be "fiercely protective" of the oryx - becoming very aggressive when any human come near. Three adult onyxes have been seen near the unlikely duo though, one of which is believed to be the mother.

Grief stricken
When the last calf was eaten by a male lion while she slept, the lioness was said to have been stricken with grief - she went around roaring in anger. Cases of lionesses showing maternal affection for animals they would normally see as prey are not unprecedented, conservationist Daphne Sheldrick said."It does happen, but it's quite unusual. Lions, like all the other species, including human beings, have this kind of feelings for babies," she said. Local newspapers have noted that all three adoptions occurred on significant days - Christmas, Valentine's Day and Good Friday.

• A breeding herd of the rare mountain bongo, now extinct on Mount Kenya, which forms part of a program to return the species to the wild.
• A breeding herd of 30 very rare white zebra, offspring of the last of their kind, rescued from extinction many years ago in the arid northern Kenya range. these are now the only specimens of their kind left alive in africa.

Standing over the shores of Lake Naivasha, at 2886 metres this massive dormant volcano dominates the landscape for miles around. The brooding hulk of the Mountain is lined with spectacular fissures and laval canyons. As you climb these slopes, you pass through herds of grazing game as spectacular views of the Rift Valley and Naivasha unfold below.

Its vast crater is an awesome sight, the jagged edge surrounding a broad expanse of vegetation. Geothermal steam trickles upwards from the walls, while buffalo and other game make their way across the crater floor.A climb up Mount Longonot is an ideal day trip from either Nairobi or Naivasha.