Kenya

For many people, Kenya embodies a certain kind of African look and experience: a string of cloaked Maasai herders wending across a billowing plain; a sea of mingled wildebeest and zebra raising dust on an epic migration; a lone bull elephant framed by the ice-capped Kilimanjaro.

And, no doubt, this East African heartland serves up all those archetypal scenes and more. But Kenya’s more than just the wildlife-thronged Rift Valley savannas: It stretches from white-sand Indian Ocean beaches to easterly tendrils of the great Central African rainforests, and from sun-scorched thorn scrub along the Somali line to the glaciers and horns of Mount Kenya’s 17,000-foot crown. And with some four-dozen native ethnic groups, Kenya’s human face extends well beyond the internationally recognizable Maasai pastoralists (fascinating as they are).

The chaotic urban tempo of 3.4-million-strong Nairobi, one of Africa’s leading metropolises, is an energetic and sometimes intimidating city. From the National Museum and corporate skyscrapers to the food stalls and yawning slums, Nairobi presents a fascinatingly complex picture. (And few other cities have rhinos, giraffes, zebras, and lions wandering just outside their bounds: Nairobi National Park offers a ridiculously accessible African safari experience within view of Kenya’s capital.)

There’s no question that nature is a prime draw in Kenya. From the Nile crocodiles of Lake Turkana to the elephants of Amboseli National Park, you can find most of Africa’s most iconic wildlife here—though nearly everywhere Kenya’s native fauna is under threat from poaching, development, and other anthropogenic pressures. Maasai Mara National Reserve links with Tanzania’s Serengeti to compose one of the world’s most celebrated wilderness complexes, the bloodstream of which is the gigantic annual migration of wildebeest (and zebra, Thomson's gazelle, and associated ungulates). Over on the hot coastal plain, the vast wilderness of Tsavo East National Park serves up swaggering elephants and an infamous population of maneless lions (this is the Tsavo country of Ghost and the Darkness fame). And mountaineers have one of Africa’s most impressive summits in Mount Kenya, only a few thousand feet shorter than Mount Kilimanjaro and a more rugged and technically challenging peak.

Throw in some superb coastal destinations—the historic Swahili architecture of Lamu Island, the beaches and music-filled clubs of Mombasa—and you’ve got a country that distills much of Africa’s beauty and charm to a potent essence. Cosmopolitan and wild, swanky and edgy, postcard-perfect and utterly disarming, Kenya will certainly burn itself into your memory no matter where you go or what you do.