Resort Guides
Deals
Shopping
Everywhere you go you can find souvenir shops and art shops, near national parks, along the main roads in the big cities, along the coastline, everywhere. In Kenya you can find many skilled artists, painters and carvers. Look out for traditional 'Lamu' wood carvings including boxes, miniature dhows and picture frames; intricate beads, bracelets and jewellery made by Masai craftspeople; brightly coloured 'kikoi' wraps, scarves and textiles; colourful kiondoo' baskets made from sisal and used as handbags; traditional tribal drums and intricately carved 'siwa' flutes. If you are hunting for art or gifts, it's best to look outside the city. In the country you can make the real deals. Always try to get the price down because people expect it, and haggling is a lot of fun.
Cuisine
Traditional Kenyan cuisine is a pot-pourri of mouth-watering African, Indian and British culinary influences. Millet and cornmeal dishes typify the country's filling starch-based diet, with meals like 'ugali', made from maize flour; 'githeri', a scrumptious bean stew and 'mtuzi wa samaki', a delicious coconut fish curry. Other favourites include samosas, chapatti breads and spicy rice pilafs. Desserts usually revolve around succulent fresh papaya and pineapple, but make sure you try 'ndizi', an irresistible pudding of bananas cooked in their own leaves. To wash everything down, try Pombe the flavourful local beer, black tea called 'chai' and of course, fresh fruit juices and rich Kenyan coffees.
Night-life
Most nightlife in Kenya centres round the beach hotels which stage regular theme shows, beach barbecues, Kenyan folklore shows and colourful displays of African dancing under starry skies. However, the beaches around Mombasa are often the stage for lively open-air discos and nightclubs, where you can dance till dawn within earshot of the whispering Indian Ocean. In Mombasa itself, you'll find cosmopolitan restaurants, cocktail bars, dance spots and casinos, as well as dhow dinner-and-sunset cruises. And on Nyali beach, there's even a nightclub with its own crocodile farm next door - an unusual combination!
