19 Cool and Unusual Things to Do in Kenya - Atlas Obscura

Unusual Attractions in Kenya

Gedi Ruins

Abandoned city hidden from the world by tropical forest and isolation on the coast of Kenya.

Giraffe Manor

Just outside of Nairobi lies a large estate surrounded by endangered Rothschild giraffes, who have been fed from the window by Mick Jagger and Walter Cronkite.

Nairobi Animal Orphanage

Located in Nairobi National Park, this animal orphanage is the oldest of its kind in Kenya.

Giraffe Centre

Get tall with nature's lankiest beasts and their warthog friends at this Kenyan preserve.

Kitum Cave

A salty cave excavated by elephants and the location of a deadly disease vector.

Marafa Depression

Strange sandstone canyon known as the "place broken by itself."

Mara River Crossing

Life and death are on parade at the most reliably perilous site of “the Great Migration.”

Kitengela

A glass wonderland in the middle of the Kenyan desert.

See All 19 Things to Do in Kenya See All 19 Places

Unique Food & Drink in Kenya

Mandazi

Across East Africa, these cardamom-flavored doughnuts are the perfect pairing for chai.

Palm Wine

It takes only two hours for palm sap to become palm wine.

Muratina

This crisp, sour Kenyan brew is made by fermenting the “sausage” fruit.

Ugali with Termites

Kenya's classic corn porridge becomes the ideal pairing for crunchy, roasted insects.

See all 7 things to eat in Kenya See all 7 things to eat in Kenya

Explore Kenya

Launch Map

Kenya Leaderboard

Places Added

Places Edited

Places Visited

Recent Kenya Activity

keithjake has been to Mara River Crossing

areinecke wants to go to Fort Jesus

musciella wants to go to Giraffe Manor

Wafflemaster135 wants to go to Giraffe Manor

npnfeef wants to go to Ali Barbour's Cave Restaurant

Stories About Kenya

A swarm of locusts in Samburu county, approximately 186 miles north of Nairobi, Kenya, on January 22.

How Climate Change Helped Spawn an East African Locust Crisis

Pictures from the ground show an insect storm of biblical proportions.

by Zoya Teirstein

January 30, 2020

This cow was the bait for the decoy, but was kept at a distance from the trap.

To Build a Better Mosquito Trap, First Put a Cow in a Tent

Then pipe its scent to a warm decoy.

by Samir S. Patel

October 15, 2018

Two former dung heaps, now beautiful grassy ovals.

Peculiar Pastures in Kenya Were Once Poop Patches

How old dung heaps become biodiversity hotspots.

September 5, 2018

Lothagam North Pillar Site, near Lake Turkana. The large gray circle in the foreground is the burial area.

Lessons From a 5,000-Year-Old Kenyan Cemetery

Logatham North Pillar Site is upending old assumptions about why people make monuments.

August 21, 2018

Researchers posit that Dr. Seuss's Lorax may be based on a real creature, the patas monkey.

Is Dr. Seuss's Lorax Real?

New research suggests the creature is based on a particular monkey that the writer encountered in Kenya.

A male waterbuck and an unlikely tsetse fly meal.

Waterbuck-Scented Cologne Can Protect Cows From Tsetse Fly Bites

How a new fragrance can help ward off a fatal disease.

by Kelsey Kennedy

October 18, 2017

Lists Featuring Kenya