Kenya is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 53.3 million as of mid-2025, Kenya is the 27th-most populous country in the world and the seventh-most populous in Africa. Kenya's capital and largest city is Nairobi. The second-largest and oldest city is Mombasa, a major port city located on Mombasa Island. Other major cities within the country include Kisumu, Nakuru and Eldoret. Going clockwise, Kenya is bordered by South Sudan to the northwest (though much of that border includes the disputed Ilemi Triangle), Ethiopia to the north, Somalia to the east, the Indian Ocean to the southeast, Tanzania to the southwest, and Lake Victoria and Uganda to the west.
Kenya's geography, climate and population vary widely. In western Rift Valley counties, the landscape includes cold, snow-capped mountaintops (such as Batian, Nelion, and Point Lenana on Mount Kenya) with vast surrounding forests, wildlife, and fertile agricultural regions in temperate climates. In other areas there are dry, arid, and semi-arid climates, as well as absolute deserts (such as the Chalbi Desert and Nyiri Desert).
Kenya's earliest inhabitants included some of the first humans to evolve from ancestral members of the genus Homo. Ample fossil evidence for this evolutionary history has been found at Koobi Fora. Later, Kenya was inhabited by hunter-gatherers similar to the present-day Hadza people. According to archaeological dating of associated artifacts and skeletal material, Cushitic speakers first settled in the region's lowlands between 3,200 and 1,300 BC, a phase known as the Lowland Savanna Pastoral Neolithic. Nilotic-speaking pastoralists (ancestral to Kenya's Nilotic speakers) began migrating from present-day South Sudan into Kenya around 500 BC. Bantu people settled at the coast and the interior between 250 BC and 500 AD.
European contact began in 1500 AD with the Portuguese Empire, and effective colonisation of Kenya began in the 19th century during the European exploration of Africa. Modern-day Kenya emerged from a protectorate, established by the British Empire in 1895, and the subsequent Kenya Colony, which began in 1920. Mombasa was the capital of the British East Africa Protectorate, which included most of what is now Kenya and southwestern Somalia, from 1889 to 1907. Numerous disputes between the UK and the colony led to the Mau Mau revolution, which began in 1952, and the declaration of Kenya's independence in 1963. After independence, Kenya remained a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. The country's current constitution was adopted in 2010, replacing the previous 1963 constitution.
Kenya is a presidential representative democratic republic, in which elected officials represent the people and the president is the head of state and government. The country is a member of the United Nations, the Commonwealth, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organization, COMESA, International Criminal Court, as well as several other international organisations. It is also a major non-NATO ally of the United States.
Kenya's economy is the largest in East and Central Africa, with Nairobi serving as a major regional commercial hub. With a per-capita Gross National Income of $2,110, the country is a lower-middle-income economy. Agriculture is the country's largest economic sector; tea and coffee are the sector's traditional cash crops, while fresh flowers are a fast-growing export. The service industry, particularly tourism, is also one of the country's major economic drivers. Kenya is a member of the East African Community trade bloc, though some international trade organisations categorise it as part of the Greater Horn of Africa. Africa is Kenya's largest export market, followed by the European Union.
Face value | Family number | English name | Scientific name
1964.01
12.12.1964
Inauguration of republic
5v set
1.30s
22
Hartlaub's Turaco Tauraco hartlaubi
1969.01
15.09.1969
Definitives
70c
1
Common Ostrich Struthio camelus
1984.01
06.02.1984
Rare birds of Kenya
70c
70
White-backed Night Heron Calherodius leuconotus
2.50s
36
Quail-plover Ortyxelos meiffrenii
3.50s
226
Taita Thrush Turdus helleri
5s
147
Papyrus Gonolek Laniarius mufumbiri
10s
203
White-winged Apalis Apalis chariessa
1988.01
10.06.1988
World Expo 88
5v set
5s
1
Common Ostrich Struthio camelus
and
4
Emu Dromaius novaehollandiae
1992.01
06.02.1992
Queen Elizabeth II anniversary
5v set
8s
64
Marabou Stork Leptoptilos crumenifer
1993.01
22.02.1993
Birds
50c
224
Superb Starling Lamprotornis superbus
1s
100
Red-and-yellow Barbet Trachyphonus erythrocephalus
3s
101
Greater Honeyguide Indicator indicator
7s
90
Malachite Kingfisher Corythornis cristatus
8s
27
Speckled Pigeon Columba guinea
10s
93
Cinnamon-chested Bee-eater Merops oreobates
11s
231
Scarlet-chested Sunbird Chalcomitra senegalensis
14s
233
Baglafecht Weaver Ploceus baglafecht
50s
87
Eastern Yellow-billed Hornbill Tockus flavirostris
80s
35
Lesser Flamingo Phoeniconaias minor
100s
69
Hadada Ibis Bostrychia hagedash
1994.01
14.02.1994
Birds
1.50s
22
Ross's Turaco Tauraco rossae
5s
78
African Fish Eagle Icthyophaga vocifer
1996.01
30.08.1996
Birds
6s
11
Vulturine Guineafowl Acryllium vulturinum
2006.01
15.12.2006
Kenya the land of opportunity
12v booklet
25s
233
Speke's Weaver Ploceus spekei
2010.01
25.03.2010
The East Africa Natural History Society
4v set
75s
22
Great Blue Turaco Corythaeola cristata
2012.01
22.06.2012
UNEP
3v set
30s
106
Pink Cockatoo Cacatua leadbeateri
and
87
Great Hornbill Buceros bicornis
2013.01
12.12.2013
Anniversary of independence
25v sheet
110s
225
Yellow-billed Oxpecker Buphagus africanus
110s
35
Lesser Flamingo Phoeniconaias minor
110s
1
Common Ostrich Struthio camelus
110s
78
African Fish Eagle Icthyophaga vocifer
2013.02
20.12.2013
Kenya and China
2v set
110s
32
Red-crowned Crane Grus japonensis
2013.03
20.12.2013
Kenya and China
2013.02
150s
32
Red-crowned Crane Grus japonensis
MS
2014.01
Birds
1993.01,1994.01
30s
100
Red-and-yellow Barbet Trachyphonus erythrocephalus
35s
231
Scarlet-chested Sunbird Chalcomitra senegalensis
50s
87
Eastern Yellow-billed Hornbill Tockus flavirostris
55s
101
Greater Honeyguide Indicator indicator
65s
224
Superb Starling Lamprotornis superbus
70s
78
African Fish Eagle Icthyophaga vocifer
80s
35
Lesser Flamingo Phoeniconaias minor
100s
69
Hadada Ibis Bostrychia hagedash
110s
22
Ross's Turaco Tauraco rossae
Link to map, opens in new window
Location: Eastern Africa
Population: 37.9 million
Climate: varies from tropical along coast to arid in interior
Terrain: low plains rise to central highlands bisected by Great Rift Valley; fertile plateau in west
Birds: 1,133 species. 7 endemic species.
Links:
Where do you want to go birding today?
Philately has been considered as an "auxiliary science of history" because it is based on the general principles of other sciences, which in turn contribute to enrich it. It acquires knowledge of the sciences, of the arts, of languages and opens an immense road of social relations through all countries. This science broadens broad horizons of culture, discovers artistic temperaments and offers the interest of the new and the unknown, while performing a positive therapeutic wor.
