Kenya's culture is both multifarious and fragmented. Nowhere else in Africa is there such a large number of ancient cultures, all alive and well in no hurry to change. Each cultural / ethnic group have their unique traditional arts & crafts, architecture in homestead designs, clothing and jewellery, food, social and economic activities etc. Kenya is bestowed with well over 40 different ethnic groups with different languages and dialects, customs, beliefs and lifestyles.

Unique of all tribes is the Elmolo, Kenya's smallest group which is a surviving tribe just emerging from the stone age standard of living usually described as the race that has stood the test of time.The well known Maasai too, famous for their worriorship, have a strong practical lifestyle which is basically seen to represent Kenya's traditions by foreigners. The Maasai land incorporates many of the National Parks like Amboseli, Mara, Tsavo and Nairobi National Park is now involved in the wildlife conservation projects to encourage eco-tourism.


The sea brought influences from the outside world, and the passage of the spice trade created the unique coastal culture, where lines between Africa and Arabia blurred. The open coast brought European influences into this world of change and began a turbulent struggle for control whose exotic history lingers today. The first explorers discovered a land of great peril and greater beauty, and their great adventures created the most unique colony in the British Empire. This was a meeting place of cultures, where adventurers and soldiers of fortune mingled with a complex tribal society, and the arrival of laborers and merchants from India brought new and pervasive influences.

The "Kenyan Culture" is born of myriad sources and influences both new and old. If any one thing of Kenya speaks of this unique character, it is the modern melding of traditional societies and culture. In Kenya it is possible to leave Nairobi, a city with a thriving business heart powered by the latest information technology, and drive in just a few hours to a place where life is lived in accordance to tradition and custom, where warriors armed with spears drive cattle into thorn brush enclosures to protect them from lions at night. Kenya has drawn on all of these influences to develop its own unique culture. This is the nation's greatest strength- the ability to blend the best of many worlds into a strong, singular identity. Today, Kenya welcomes the world to its shores and continues to evolve a modern culture that is born of endless variety, and yet purely, proudly Kenyan.