You are what's new in Kenya. More of you than ever have made Kenya your dream safari destination. If you're thinking that more people means less enjoyment of the wildlife, we say "Ngoja kidogo."  Although Kenya’s visitor numbers are swelling, its tourist circuit remains compact and accessible, and most of all profoundly beautiful. It can stay that way indefinitely as long as you demand and support environme ...

If you’re keen on tacking on some R&R after your oh-so-stressful Safari, consider Zanzibar. The "zan" in Tanzania is just an hour-and-a-half ferry ride from the mainland in the Indian Ocean. It’s the perfect tropical spot to kick back and relax. Here are a few tips to help you plan your trip. 1. Remember your visa. Visitors from the United States and Europe require visas to enter Tanzania. Zanzibar is a ...

Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe: 11th - 15th c. AD The plateau between the rivers Zambezi and Limpopo, in southeast Africa, offers rich opportunities for human settlement. Its grasslands make excellent grazing for cattle. The tusks of dead elephants provide an easy basis for a trade in ivory. A seam of gold, running along the highest ridge, shows signs of having been worked in at least four places before 1000 ...

Buganda: 19th century AD Uganda, on the equator and surrounded by the great lakes of central Africa, is one of the last parts of the continent to be reached by outsiders. Arab traders in search of slaves and ivory arrive in the 1840s, soon followed by two British explorers. Speke is here in 1862. Stanley follows in 1875. The ruler visited by both Speke and Stanley is Mutesa, the king (or kabaka) of Buganda. ...

The Barbary coast: 16th - 20th century AD With the decline of the local Berber dynasties in the 15th and 16th centuries, the valuable coastal strip of north Africa (known because of the Berbers as the Barbary coast) attracts the attention of the two most powerful Mediterranean states of the time - Spain in the west, Turkey in the east. The Spanish-Turkish rivalry lasts for much of the 16th century, but it i ...

Uncharted territory: to the 19th century AD In the uncharted centuries of prehistory, Tanzania is criss-crossed by tribal trade routes linking the Great Lakes (Victoria and Tanganyika) with the coast. These are the same routes along which Arab traders subsequently move inland, searching for slaves and ivory. In a second wave of penetration by outsiders, Europeans use Bagamoyo (opposite Zanzibar) as their st ...

Colonial rule: AD 1906-1967 In their small landlocked upland kingdom, under a British high commissioner from 1906, the Swazi preserve their tribal traditions more effectively than most other African nations. Part of the explanation is that little development occurs during the colonial period, because the status of the region is so uncertain. The South Africa Act of 1909, creating the Union of South Africa, ...

The people of sub-Saharan Africa: 2000 - 500 BC Much of the southern part of the African continent is occupied by tribes known as Khoisan, characterized by a language with a unique click in its repertoire of sounds. The main divisions of the Khoisan are the San (often referred to until recent times as Bushmen) and the Khoikhoi (similarly known until recently as Hottentots). The tropical forests of central A ...

Cape Town: AD 1652 Ships sailing to and from the east make a habit of calling in at the bay below Table mountain - to barter with the Khoikhoi tribes of the region for fresh food, and to engage in an informal postal system. Letters and news sheets are left under marked stones, to await a particular recipient or to be carried in the appropriate direction by the next passing ship. There has even been a feeble ...

Between Arabia and Ethiopia The land of the Somali people, much of it arid and inhospitable, has for thousands of years been close to civilization and international trade. To the north, just across the Gulf of Aden, is Saba, the land of the legendary Queen of Sheba and the earliest part of Arabia to prosper. To the west is Ethiopia, where the kingdom of Aksum is established by the 5th century BC. Situated o ...