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KENYA-ATA 30TH JUBILEE CELEBRATIONS FEATURED IN ADVANCE EDITION OF AFRICA TRAVEL MAGAZINE

Magical News" East African Safari Air, Kenya's newest International airline, has commenced air services between London, Paris and Rome and Nairobi and Mombasa. The Airline's Boeing 767 service offers 2 flights a week on a Rome- Paris- Nairobi- Mombasa route and 4 weekly flights to London. This means much greater air access between Europe and East Africa. The airline is backed up by its own domestic fleet, called East African Safari Air Express. Their domestic network covers Mombasa and Malindi on the Kenyan coast and connects to Mount Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar in Tanzania, with Fokker 28 and Gulfstream 1 aircraft. The combination of International and Domestic services have made East African Safari Air Flights a popular choice for travellers heading to Kenya for Safari and/or Beach holidays.

SAIL INTO THE PAST
If you are looking for a safari with a real difference, an all new Sailing Safari based around the historical island of Lamu offers an enticing blend of adventure, history, culture and romance. This fascinating safari is one of the first tourism projects to be funded and assisted by the Tourism Trust fund of the European Union, which is working to spread the benefits of sustainable eco-tourism and community tourism throughout Kenya. The 7-day safari is a joint effort between African Quest Safaris, the Kenya National Museum and the local communities of the Lamu Archipelago.

Sailing from Lamu's stone town, a traditional dhow will carry you along the waters of the antique spice trade, through a beautiful tropical archipelago, discovering ancient ruins and visiting small villages where East Africa's Swahili culture is at its most pure and welcoming.The island of Lamu is regarded as one of the most exotic and romantic places on earth- where life has changed little over the centuries, a place with own unique, relaxed lifestyle and atmosphere. The winding narrow streets of its 14th Century Stone Town (recently declared a World Heritage Site) are filled with living history, and the air is rich with the aroma of spices.

In Lamu there are no cars, and all transport is by foot or donkey- ensuring that life is lived at its own leisurely pace. The Dhow Safari uses Lamu as a base for exploring the neighbouring islands of Manda, Pate and Kiwaayu- where visitors discover some of East Africa's oldest settlements, including the ghostly ruins of Takwa and the remote settlement of Siyu. Transport is by sailing dhow, and the islands will be explored on foot using donkeys as pack animals.

Local guides are on hand to bring the fascinating history of the archipelago to life- but this is no staid museum tour. The safari visits small villages throughout the islands, and time is spent learning about the traditions and cultures of the local people, sampling the local cuisine and lifestyle.

At Siyu, guests will attend a special night Ngoma in the village square, where &endash; traditional dancers &endash; men dressed in White majestically twirl their sticks and sing to the music of the piper and the slow beating of the drum under a starlit sky.

The safari reaches its end at Kiwaayu, an uninhabitated paradise, where there is plenty of time for swimming, snorkeling and relaxing on the beach.

This competitively priced safari is perfect for anyone looking for a genuine adventure, and promises to give visitors a first and experience of the history and culture of this region.

BUNGEE JUMPING IN KENYA

The opening of East Africa's first Bungee Jumping operation on the banks of the Tana River at Sagana, just 95 kms North of Nairobi, has bolstered Kenya's reputation as Africa's premier adventure destination "Bungeewalla" now offers high adrenaline jumps at their base and campsite, shared with the country's most popular White WaterRafting outfift.

This combination of rafting and Bungee makes the Tana a one stop adventure centre. Bungee jumping is a popular extreme sport worldwide. Started in New Zealand, it involves jumping from bridges or towers with your ankles attached to a long rubber bungee cord. Kenya's bungee is from a specially constructed 60 metre tower over the Tana River. Jumpers ascend the tower attached to a safety rail by specialized climbing harnesses. Once at the top, they are fitted with the bungee cord, and are then free to take the plunge over the wild waters of the Tana. After the jump, they are collected in a raft, and returned to the bank to rest, recover, or even take to the rapids and raft.

The bungee location is an ideal stop en route to Mt Kenya or Samburu- and can be combined with a day's White Water rafting on the Tana.

KENYA'S COAST: KITESURFING PARADISE

A recent tour by the Blues III Professional Kitesurfing Team from Italy has confirmed Kenya's place as a major destination for this exciting new sport. Kitesurfing is a faster, more thrilling alternative to Windsurfing. With a Kite powering the board instead of a sail, a strong wind and waves allow the surfer to perform acrobatic jumps, flips and turns. The 14 day Blues III tour took in the best of the Kenya coast with time off for safaris in nearby Tsavo National Park.

This combination of wind, waves and wildlife makes this an ideal location for the Kitesurfing fanatic. The Prosurf's Kite & Windsurf Centre at Nyali Beach has top notch equipment and training for both professional and amateur wave riders, while the conditions at Che-Shale near Malindi make for world class Kite-surfing. So perfect, in fact, are the conditions at Che Shale that it has become a host for international Kits Surfing championships. The trade winds that once brought the spice trade to the Kenya coast are now spicing up the waters as travelers looking for waterborne adventure converge to ride the waves.

RETURN OF THE BONGO

Eighteen African antelopes bred in North America have arrived in Kenya in an effort to save the species from extinction in its native habitat, in the first ever "repatriation" of large zoo bred African mammals.

The shipment of the elegant mountain bongos from a breeding program in U.S. and Canadian zoos, are to be moved into a Game ranch near Mt Kenya.

A large antelope with red fur interspersed with fine white stripes, the mountain bongo- a native to the Kenyan highlands, is considered a prize specimen for zoos around the world. The average male bongo weighs about 250 kg (550 lbs) and its horns can grow to a length of one meter (3 ft 3 in).

There are 400 bongo living in American zoos, more than four times the wild population, which has been decimated by poaching and habitat loss. The newly arrived 18 are the first batch of 60 that will be taken to Kenya by 2006 in a project backed by the U.N. Development Program and several conservation organizations.

The repatriated zoo antelopes will not be able to survive in the wild, and will be kept captive at the game ranch. It will be their offspring that are eventually released into the adjacent Mount Kenya National Park in a few years, said Nancy Chege, an environmentalist monitoring the program.

This program is great news for the diversity of the Mt Kenya Forests, recently named a World Heritage Site. The bongo has come to symbolize this high and wild region, and now visitors to the Mountain may once again catch a glimpse of this rare and elusive creature.

SNAKE SAFARI

Kenya has 126 species of Snakes- yet most visitors to the country leave without seeing one of these shy and elusive reptiles. The question is- What if you would actually like to see one? An all new Specialized Safari outfit is offering a Kenya Snakes Safari- a genuine adventure that combines wild walks, river rafting, visits to witch doctors' caves and tracking down Kenya's top 5 snake species.

The trip is called the Big 5 Snake Safari in reference to the popular term for the 5 most popular African Big Game species- Lion, Leopard, Buffalo, Rhino and Elephant.

In this case- this Safari goes in search of the most impressive species of African snake- the Python, Boomslang, Puff Adder, Cobra and the Mamba.

This trip is run by some of Kenya's top reptile experts and professional snake catchers. The aim of the entire venture is to promote education and awareness of snakes, and to demonstrate through firsthand experience that these creatures play an important and fascinating role in African eco-systems, and rarely live up to their maligned and mythologized reputations as aggressive killers.

Anyone joining the safari will discover that snakes are extremely shy of humans, and will go to great lengths to avoid people. This makes finding the "Big 5" species in a single safari a genuine challenge.

In fact, it's this challenge that makes this safari what it is: an adventure- it involves a lot of travel through a range of habitats and landscapes, tracking down snakes through forests, dry river beds, rocky cliffs and mangroves. The safari takes in plenty of other wildlife along the way as well, as well as village visits, wild camping, rafting and time off on one of the world's best beaches.

If you are looking for a wildlife safari that doesn't involve taking photos from the safety of a vehicle, and would like to get out and explore and interact with wild animals up close and personal, and have a genuine adventure, then this is the trip for you.

KENYA TOURIST BOARD

rkwena@kenyatourism.org

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