Kenya is the heartland of East Africa. Total area of approximately 580,650 km2, making it slightly smaller than the state of Texas and the 46th largest country in the world.

The country's southeastern border is defined by the Indian Ocean, and its southwestern border includes a small portion of Lake Victoria.

The terrain consists of low plains, central highlands, which are separated by the Great Rift Valley, and a fertile plateau. However, as little as 3% of the total land area of the country is arable (able to support a crop).

Kenya's peoples are distinctly African, yet diverse and include many ethnic tribes. Official languages are English and Swahili (a mixture of Bantu and Arabic). In addition, numerous indigenous languages are spoken nationwide. The major faiths in Kenya are, Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, indigenous beliefs, and the Muslim (Islamic) religion.

Kenya is in the East African Standard Time zone which is +3 hours GMT and 7 hours ahead of the US Eastern Time during winter. Unlike the US which has several time zones, Kenya has a uniform time zone and it shares this with neighboring Uganda and Tanzania.

Kenya's weather contrasts a great deal. Coastal region is mostly hot and humid. January and February are the hottest months. April and May are quite rainy. The Lake Victoria basin is also quite hot while the central region experiences a cool temperate climate. June and July are the coolest months in Nairobi and if you are in the capital then, you will probably need to wear a light jacket particularly in the evenings.

You can expect to experience searing heat when visiting the arid regions of northern and northeastern kenya.

When traveling to Kenya, you may want to take some special precautions to protect your health during the trip. Having vaccinations for the following diseases is strongly recommended several months before your trip: diphtheria, hepatitis A, malaria, tetanus, typhoid, and yellow fever.

To mitigate the risk of contracting waterborne diseases, under no circumstances should you take unboiled water. Always insist on reliable sealed bottled water brands such as Keringet and Dasani.

Kenya's international dialing code is 254. There are four mobile operators:

• Safaricom with prefixes 0711 to 0729
• Zain with prefixes 0731 to 0739
• Orange with prefixes 0770 to 0772
• Yu with prefixes 0750 to 0755

Mobile subscriber numbers are 6 digits.

Kenya's currency is called the Kenya Shilling. 1 shilling = 100 cents. There are 1000, 500, 200, 100 and 50 shilling notes while the coins come in denominations of 40, 20, 10, 5, 1 shillings and 50 cents. The local currency is often abbreviated as KES, Ksh or Kshs.

Kenya's foreign exchange market is fully liberalized. 1 US$ exchange for between Ksh 74 and 80.

You may not want to convert all of your cash. However, most tourist locations in Kenya will accept major credit cards, particularly Visa and MasterCard. The majority of banks have ATM machines as do some gas/petrol stations in the main cities. Traveler's checks are also widely accepted.

Kenya's national anthem is, in fact, a prayer that entreats God to bless and protect the country from foreign invasion, it has 2 versions – in English, the official language and Swahili, the national language. The lyrics of both versions are as follows:

The anthem is also a prayer for a peaceful, united and free Kenya. Kenyans also resolve to work hard to develop their country.

There are 8 administrative provinces in Kenya:

• Nairobi
• Central
• Western
• Nyanza
• Eastern
• Rift Valley
• North Eastern
• Coast