A painted wooden giraffe is an instant marker of a trip to east Africa. There is a wide variety of carving styles using a range of materials available. It is well worth shopping around for quality and value.

The Makonde carving is the most famous woodcarving and is probably the best known art work produced (which are made by the Akamba people around the Tanzanian border), which are traditionally carved from ebony, a very black, heavy wood. The popularity of Makonde work means that there are many Makonde artists in Kenya and their work is widely available. Some Makonde work is now made with blackened rosewood.

Their work is both traditional and contemporary, reflecting a tribal past as well as modern response to urban life. They utilize their tribal myths and stories as inspiration for the masterful work; one carver, for instance, specializes in ghost spirits and clouds. Animal statuettes and human and demon-faced ceremonial masks are common. Traditional Makonde designs are thin elongated human figures, towers of intricate intertwined human bodies known as the Tree of Life, figures from the Slave trade and surreal figures based on local mythology.

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