KARIBU KENYA - UNON - the United Nations Office at Nairobi

economic wellbeing, both rose by 30% between 1989 and 2003, with infant
mortality reaching 78 per 1,000 live births and under-five mortality standing
at 114 per 1,000 live births in 2003 – meaning that one in nine Kenyan children
does not reach their fifth birthday.
Life expectancy also continued to fall steadily over this period, with
the average lifespan among Kenya’s 33 million people recorded at just over
45 years in 2003. The growing migration of jobless rural residents to
Nairobi and other towns continues to put increasing pressure on the
country’s growing urban slums, where levels of sanitation coverage and
accessibility to safe water remain pitifully low – and where unemployment
and extreme poverty have contributed to one of the world’s highest prevalences
of HIV infection.
The Land
Covering 582,650 square kilometres (225,000 square miles), Kenya is one of
the most topographically diverse countries of its size in the world, with
landscapes ranging from snow mountains and glaciers to sun blasted deserts,
ancient rainforests to sparkling white beaches, and some of the world’s most
game rich wilderness areas in between (see Chapter 10). The country’s
topographical glory is the world’s longest and most spectacular valley, the
Great Rift, made famous by the Leakey family’s hominid discoveries, while
its western borders fall on the shores of Africa’s largest lake, the 70,000square-kilometre
Lake Victoria, which influences weather conditions across
much of the region.
Kenya’s climate is strongly influenced by its landscape, with twiceyearly
wet seasons delivering less than 10 inches of rain to the northeastern
deserts but spilling more than 80 inches in the central and western highlands.
Rainfall generally follows strong seasonal patterns – with the ‘long
rains’ usually falling between mid-March and mid-May, and the ‘short rains’
from late October to early December – although this pattern is most
pronounced in the dry north and east, and less so in the humid highlands
and the western regions, which can witness rain at any time, particularly
between March and September. When the sun is out, Nairobi enjoys relatively
warm days all year round, although the nights are often cool at this
1,800-metre altitude. During the winter months between June and August,
nighttime temperatures occasionally dip into single figures, and thick clothing
and domestic heating are often required.
4 • KARIBU KENYA