An East African country, Kenya is flanked by Ethiopia to the north, Tanzania to the south, Somalia to the east, Uganda to the west, and Sudan to the northwest. The southeast border of Kenya is flanked by the Indian Ocean.

Vasco Da Gama, the great Portuguese explorer was the first European to visit Kenya when he arrived at Mombasa in 1498. The Portuguese domination in Kenya was mainly confined to the coastal strip from Malindi to Mombasa and it officially began after 1505. They invaded all the coastal towns and collected tributes forcibly and also set up Portuguese domination of the sea throughout the coast of Kenya. They also made Kenya their base to control trade in the Indian Ocean through piracy. As pirates, they were able to demand high tariffs from different commercial traders sailing through the Indian Ocean.

In 1593, the Portuguese constructed Fort Jesus in Mombasa to solidify their position in Kenya. But their influence was later disrupted by British, Dutch, and Omani Arab intrusions in the region during the seventeenth century. Omani Arabs were successful in completely expelling the Portuguese from the Kenyan and Tanzanian dominions by the year 1730. But like the Portuguese, they could only control the coastal territory and not the interior Kenya. They established the slave trade which they continued till 1839, after which the British, who aimed at putting an end to slave trade, took over. By 1880, the German and British domination on sea had taken over Kenya to their folds at the expense of Omani Arabs.

For historians however the colonial history of Kenya starts from the establishment of a German protectorate over the Sultan of Zanzibar in 1885. Thereafter the Imperial British East Africa Company arrived on the scene in 1888. German handed over its coastal holdings to Britain in 1890. The Kenya-Uganda Railway was also established during that time. During the early twentieth century the country developed the land into a large coffee and tea growing nation.

From 1952 to 1959, Kenya saw a state of emergency being thrust upon due to the Mau Mau rebellion against British rule. However, since 1956 the Mau Mau rebellion was on the decline and soon became extinct after a massive anti-resurgence operation by the British.

After the first direct election to the Legislative Council in 1957, the Kenya African National Union (KANU) headed by Jomo Kenyatta came to power. Ultimately Kenya earned independence from foreign rule on 12th December, 1963. It was somewhat unfortunate that a country and its people who were subjected to long colonial rule and oppression, themselves indulged into similar activities in the matter of Somalia later on.

After Kenyatta, who was the President of Kenya from 1963 to 1978, Daniel arap Moi became President and continued till 2002 when he was constitutionally barred from running and Mwai Kibaki became the President from the opposition. Kenya is a presidential representative democratic republic and has a multi-party system running. Executive powers are vested with Government, with the Legislative powers vested with both, the Government and the National Assembly. The judiciary is completely independent of executive and legislature. The most prominent political scenario was the silent transfer of power from a party who ruled the country for 40 years to its opposition in 2002.

Kenya comprises of eight provinces. They are Central, Coast, Eastern, Nairobi, North Eastern, Nyanza, Rift Valley, and Western. Each of these eight provinces is headed by a centrally appointed Provincial Commissioner. The eight provinces are divided into 262 divisions called taarafa and further subdivided into 1088 locations or kata. Kenya has an area of about 225,000 square miles and it is the 47th largest country in the world. The terrain rises from the coast of Indian Ocean and the low plains to the central highlands bisected by the Great Rift Valley. The Kenyan highlands comprise of one of the most affluent agricultural production regions in Africa. Mount Kenya is the highest peak at 17,057 feet in height and the climate varies from tropical to dry as you move from coast to interior.

Wildlife is found in abundance in the reserves and parks of Kenya, but they are not only confined to that area. Though Safaris are routed through these parks, a visitor would find plenty of wildlife outside. Most of the stretch of reserves found in Kenya is the famous savannah, an area with rich pasture shaded with trees and this is where you would find the herds of antelopes. It is amazing when you look at the different species grazing upon different kinds of grass and not one of the species would interfere with the domain of the others.

Where the antelope grazes, the carnivores lurk in the bushes for a hunt. You will find lion, leopard, cheetah, wild dog, and hyena, along with the others, roaming the land of the savannah. You will get to see smaller carnivores, such as, serval cat, genet and jackal. You will hardly be disappointed if you are looking to find lions in savannah, since lions are quite common in this part of Kenya. These lions doze during the day and get alert as the evening falls and set out for the hunt. The Cheetah is different and with the speed that it has, it prefers to hunt during the day.

Kenya is a country of diversified cultures. The Swahilis on the coast, the Pastoralist communities in the north are the most prominent tribes in Kenya. There are several other communities in the central and western regions. The Massai culture is quite well known for their bravery. The warriors within the Massai would protect the community with a sense of pride and bravery. The Massai tribe attracts many tourists for the legends that the tribe carries with them. At one time it was thought that they are the lost tribe of Israel.

Strangely enough there is no specific national dress or outfit till date for Kenya. It has however, its own national flag. Among popular Kenyan music are the afro-fusion and benga and the traditional folk song. Guitar is the most popular instrument. In the field of Sports, Kenya has excelled in football, rallying, rugby, boxing, and running. Marathon World record holder Paul Tergat hails from Kenya. Films and movies are gradually gaining popularity, though drama and acting in television plays holds the driver's seat. Kenya holds one of the biggest annual drama events, the Kenya schools and Colleges Drama Festival in the south of Sahara.

If you are thinking of using a cell phone in Kenya, you may be concerned about a number of things. First, there is the question of expenses involved. You would like to be in touch with your family and friends, near and dear ones, business associates and all. But on the roaming the cost may be too much to bear.

At the time when mobile telephony was not available, you had reasons to get in touch with your associates and friends, both locally and abroad, and also with your family back home. In order to do this, you might have used the telephone in your hotel room. The telephone bills that you had to pay at the end of your stay in the hotel were quite large.

The next time you went abroad, you had your cell phone with you, and you had used it to call the people concerned. You had paid heavily not only for your outgoing calls but also for the calls that you received. You were using the roaming facility.

You were using the roaming facility. In order to provide you the facility to use your cell phone in another country, your service provider had entered into a business contract with the specific provider of the country that you are in. This business contract is also a financial agreement between the two service providers. Very briefly, the contract says, that each time you use the services of the foreign provider, whether to call or receive calls, your home service provider will be charged according to the air time that you use. More-over, as long as you are on roaming, there is a standard charge for the facility provided. Therefore, your service provider charges you more than normal for your roaming outgoing and incoming calls.

A possible and very viable solution to you for this problem would be to buy a Pre-Paid SIM card for Kenya. Such a Pre-paid SIM card could well save around eighty percent of your call expenses. When you purchase a Pre-paid SIM card of Kenya, you get a local number. Consequentially you are charged for all your calls at the local rate. All your incoming calls are free, no matter where it generates from. Neither you pay any roaming charges nor there any necessity of entering into a contract with a service provider. The entire proposition is far less expensive compared to the old land phone call or the cell phone roaming system. Benefits of a pre-paid SIM card for Kenya do not end there. Additionally, when you buy a pre-paid SIM card for Kenya, you receive a small talk time credit along with such a card. As a result you are able to use your cell phone as soon as you reach your destination in Kenya. In order to top up your talk time credit, you can procure vouchers or recharge coupons from almost all shops in the city. Since the vouchers are available in different denominations, you can chose to buy the value that you would want for replenishing your credit. Since you pre-pay for your calls, you are in control of the expenses that you are incurring, this allows you to remain within that budget that you have set for for the purpose. For more information on the prices and services related to the Pre-Paid SIM card for Kenya, please visit www.planetomni.com/FAQ_sim.shtml What is a SIM card? A SIM card is the abbreviation of the term Subscriber Identity Module, which is of the size a little smaller than a postage stamp. It is a smart card, in form of a printed circuit board, which has a microprocessor and memory. It is the module which renders your cell phone intelligent and allows you to make and receive calls and use your cell phones in other ways. The SIM card goes into a slot at the back of your cell phone. As you open the back cover, you shall be able to locate the slot where the SIM card is placed. A SIM card holds your unique information, such as, you as the phone's owner, the SIM card number, your subscription information, the International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) of your mobile phone and other security details. As you switch on your phone, the information is transmitted to the nearest tower of the city that you are in. The details transmitted are checked for its validity and security and if they are found satisfactory, you are logged into the network. Your cell phone is now ready for making and receiving calls. A SIM card also holds your address book, where you may store the names and telephone numbers of the people you frequently call. It also logs your incoming and outgoing calls and such calls which you have failed to answer. The telephone numbers of these calls are logged according to their dates and time of call. You would need a GSM cell phone in Kenya If you should have a GSM phone with you, it is very unlikely that it would work in that country, unless your cell phone supports multi-frequency bandwidths. The network in Kenya operates on 900MHz and 1800MHz GSM frequency band, where-as, North America, Canada and a few neighbouring countries work on 850MHz and 1900MHz GSM bandwidths. This difference would not allow your phone to be used in Kenya, unless you have a multi-frequency phone, supporting the network frequency of that country.

Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) is the second generation (2G) and the first open architecture digital mobile technology, replacing the old analog first generation (1G) system. It is being used in over 214 countries with 80% subscribers out of the total mobile users in the world. GSM has four sets of frequency bands, which are 850 MHz, 900 MHz, and 1800 MHz and 1900 MHz and are distributed to the different regions. Some of these frequencies are commonly used by different countries, with the exception that 850MHz and 1900MHz GSM bandwidths are exclusively being used in North America, Canada and a few other neighbouring countries The major advantage in using GSM technology is that you have the facility to get in touch with people from about anywhere in this planet, when you are roaming with your phone.

To facilitate use of GSM cell phones in different parts of the world, handsets are available in multi-frequency bands. The Quad-band GSM phones, operate on all the GSM frequencies and there-by is suitable for use the world over. The Tri-band works on 800MHz, 900MHz and 1800MHz frequency bands, and operates in most part of the GSM region. There is the Dual-band, having compatibility with two of the GSM frequency bands - 800MHz and 1900MHz.

The GSM phone that you are taking with you on your visit to Kenya, should be SIM unlocked, as otherwise, you will not be able to operate your pre-paid SIM card for Kenya or any other SIM card for that matter. A SIM locked cell phone will only work with the SIM card which is meant for the phone.

Why are cell phones SIM locked? Consider the following example. When you sign a contract with a service provider, a clause in that contract might stipulate that you will have to use the services of this particular provider for a definite period of time. This is generally one year. In exchange, you will receive a cell phone of your choice, within the models offered by the service provider, and at the end of the contract the cell phone becomes yours. When you receive the phone, you also receive a SIM card from your service provider. The phone that you have received is SIM locked, and would only work with the SIM card that came along with it. At the end of the contract period the service provider helps you to SIM unlock your phone, when it may be used with any SIM card of your choice.

Therefore, whether you are taking your cell phone, buying one or renting it, for your visit to Kenya, you need to make sure that your cell phone is not SIM locked. If you are a frequent traveller to foreign countries, you may consider buying such a multi-frequency phone which would work in the countries that you visit. If you are travelling in-frequently, it is economical for you to rent a compatible phone for your visit to the country. For more information in buying or renting a compatible cell phone, visit www.planetomni.com/FAQ_gsm.shtml

A pre-paid SIM card for Kenya is affordable and saves you substantially on your call expenses. You pay as the locals do and your incoming calls are all free. You do not pay roaming charges. There is no contract for you to sign and you do not receive any bill at the end of the month. Since you pre-pay for your call charges, you are aware of the expenses that you are incurring.