The water
Bottled water in Nairobi and on safari; altitude plus dry air means drink more than you think. Tap water: Not drinkable.
Kenya
Lake Turkana, the world's largest permanent desert lake and a cradle-of-humankind fossil site
RegionAfricaCurrencyKESPowerType C/D/M, 230VTap waterNot drinkable
Strong
Eco Index
What to expect on the ground
At a glance
Food & farming
Kenya is a deeply agrarian country where farming supports a large share of livelihoods, self-sufficient in its maize staple and a major grower of tea, coffee, vegetables and cut flowers, while importing wheat, rice and more in…Read more
Kenya is a deeply agrarian country where farming supports a large share of livelihoods, self-sufficient in its maize staple and a major grower of tea, coffee, vegetables and cut flowers, while importing wheat, rice and more in drought years.
Local staples
Ugali (maize), beans, sukuma wiki, rice, chapati
Markets
Regular open-air markets; town market days vary locally
In season
Long-rains harvest around August to October; short-rains harvest early in the year
Wildlife
Kenya offers world-class biodiversity and iconic megafauna, from the Big Five to the annual wildebeest migration across the Mara, plus rarities such as Grevy's zebra, the hirola antelope and sitatunga. Rhino and elephant…Read more
Kenya offers world-class biodiversity and iconic megafauna, from the Big Five to the annual wildebeest migration across the Mara, plus rarities such as Grevy's zebra, the hirola antelope and sitatunga. Rhino and elephant conservation are actively managed.
Found nowhere else
Grevy's zebra, hirola antelope, Sokoke scops owl, Tana River primates
Natural phenomena
Dry Jun–Oct and Jan–Feb are safari prime; the long rains are Mar–May.
When to go
Dry seasons; migration river crossings July to October
Getting around
Matatus and buses, the SGR railway from Nairobi to Mombasa, domestic flights and safari transfers
Good to know
M-Pesa is king; cards in cities; KES. Safari lodges take cards.
Safety
Solo female travel: Take care. LGBTQ+: Illegal.
Only hereLake Turkana, the world's largest permanent desert lake and a cradle-of-humankind fossil site
Assessed across 10 equally-weighted pillars
The Eco Index, pillar by pillar
70/100
Strong
The Eco Index: Kenya
12 pillars, equally weighted, from published sources. All 12 assessed. Blanks mean unverified, never estimated.
Only here Lake Turkana, the world's largest permanent desert lake and a cradle-of-humankind fossil site
- Forest cover
- 6.2%%
- Land protected
- 13.9%%
- Sea protected
- 0.7%%
- Organic farmland
- 0.4%%
- Threatened species
- 558 (mammals, birds, fish & plants)
- Found nowhere else
- Grevy's zebra, hirola antelope, Sokoke scops owl, Tana River primates
- Renewable power
- 78.1%%
- CO2 per person
- 0.4 t (2022) t
- Air quality (AQI)
- 20.3 µg/m³ (PM2.5)
- Cleanest air
- Highland conservancies and the Aberdares away from Nairobi
- Water from
- Bottled water in Nairobi and on safari; altitude plus dry air means drink more than you think.
- Tap water
- Not drinkable
- Cleanest water
- Mount Kenya and Aberdare highland streams
- Springs
- Lake Bogoria hot springs and geysers; geothermal steam at Hell's Gate
- In season
- Long-rains harvest around August to October; short-rains harvest early in the year
- Plastic ban
- 2017 plastic bag ban; 2020 single-use plastic ban in protected areas
- Watch out for
- Charcoal production and forest clearance
- Solo female travel
- Take care
- LGBTQ+ acceptance
- Illegal
- Best months
- July to October and January to February
- Getting around
- Matatus and buses, the SGR railway from Nairobi to Mombasa, domestic flights and safari transfers
- Power
- Type C/D/M, 230V
- Currency
- KES
| Pillar | Score | What we found |
|---|---|---|
| WaterWhere the water comes from, and whether there is enough of it | 2/5 | Kenya is chronically water-stressed, drawing on rivers, Rift Valley lakes and Lake Victoria but hit by recurrent droughts and uneven access, especially across the arid north. Full assessmentNational figures for safely managed drinking water are not reliably estimated, and tap water is generally not safe to drink. |
| Food and farmingWhat the island actually grows, and what arrives by boat | 4/5 | Kenya is a deeply agrarian country where farming supports a large share of livelihoods, self-sufficient in its maize staple and a major grower of tea, coffee, vegetables and cut flowers, wh… Full assessmentle importing wheat, rice and more in drought years. |
| Plant based and real foodWhether you can eat unprocessed from local supply | 4/5 | Everyday Kenyan food leans on ugali, beans, githeri, sukuma wiki (collard greens), maize and vegetables, so unprocessed plant eating is cheap and normal. Full assessmentFor most people meat features at celebrations more than at daily meals. |
| OrganicCertified and chemical free growing, which is not the same thing as plant based | 2/5 | Certified organic land is about 0.4% of agricultural area (FiBL, 2020 data), though much smallholder farming is low-input and Kenya has a notable certified organic export sector. |
| ConservationWhat is protected, and whether protection is enforced | 3/5 | State protected areas cover about 14% of land but under 1% of the sea (World Bank, 2025), anchored by famous parks such as Maasai Mara, Amboseli and Tsavo and extended by a leading network … Full assessmentf community conservancies. Anti-poaching and rhino protection are relatively strong, though marine protection lags well behind. |
| Wildlife and endemicsWhat lives here and nowhere else on earth | 4/5 | Kenya offers world-class biodiversity and iconic megafauna, from the Big Five to the annual wildebeest migration across the Mara, plus rarities such as Grevy's zebra, the hirola antelope an… Full assessmentsitatunga. Rhino and elephant conservation are actively managed. |
| Natural materialsWhat you can eat from and carry here instead of plastic, and who still makes it | 3/5 | Natural-materials traditions are strong, including sisal, cotton, the Maasai shuka and beadwork, kikoi cloth and hand-woven kiondo baskets. Full assessmentMany remain everyday working crafts and livelihoods. |
| Pollution and plasticPlastic law and contamination | 4/5 | Kenya introduced one of the world's strictest plastic bag bans in 2017 and barred single-use plastics from national parks, beaches and forests in 2020. Full assessmentAmbient PM2.5 averages about 20 µg/m³ (World Bank, 2023), with continuing challenges from Nairobi traffic and the Dandora dumpsite. |
| Recycling and wasteWhat actually happens to the rubbish once you have thrown it away | 2/5 | Formal municipal recycling is low and dominated by the informal sector, though PET and paper recovery and extended-producer-responsibility schemes are growing. |
| Energy and climateClean power, carbon emissions per person and the pace of decarbonisation | 5/5 | Kenya runs one of the cleanest electricity systems in the world, with renewables supplying close to 90 per cent of generation from geothermal fields at Olkaria, the Lake Turkana wind farm a… Full assessmentd hydropower. Emissions are very low at around 0.4 tonnes of CO2 per person. Its climate pledge targets a 32 per cent cut in emissions by 2030 and it aims for a fully clean power grid. A low emitting economy running on genuinely clean and largely domestic power places Kenya at the top of this pillar. |
| Culture and peopleIndigenous and living communities, and who the money reaches | 4/5 | Kenya has strong living indigenous cultures, including Maasai and Samburu communities, and its community conservancy model channels tourism and conservation income directly to local landown… Full assessmentrs, one of the better examples of money reaching residents despite past land-rights tensions. |
| Living heritage and ancestral traditionsNational dance and music, and the ancestral and spiritual traditions still practised | 5/5 | Kenya's heritage is exceptionally rich across more than forty communities. Full assessmentThe Maasai adumu jumping dance and eunoto rites, benga music, and coastal Swahili taarab are all widely alive. Isukuti drumming of the Isukha and Idakho is inscribed by UNESCO, as are the Mijikenda kaya sacred forests, where ancestral traditions are still observed. Pastoralist peoples such as the Maasai, Samburu and Turkana maintain living indigenous practice. |
Before you go
M-Pesa is king; cards in cities; KES. Safari lodges take cards.
Where these figures come from
- World Bank, Forest area (% of land area) AG.LND.FRST.ZS, 2023 — source
- World Bank, Terrestrial protected areas (% of total land area) ER.LND.PTLD.ZS, 2025 — source
- World Bank, Marine protected areas (% of territorial waters) ER.MRN.PTMR.ZS, 2025 — source
- World Bank, Renewable electricity output (% of total electricity output) EG.ELC.RNEW.ZS, 2021 — source
- World Bank, PM2.5 air pollution, mean annual exposure (µg/m³) EN.ATM.PM25.MC.M3, 2023 — source
- FiBL & IFOAM, The World of Organic Agriculture 2022 (2020 data), organic share of agricultural land — source
- IUCN Red List via World Bank, threatened mammals, birds, fish and higher plants (summed), 2022 — source
- UNEP, Kenya single-use plastic bag ban (2017) and protected-area single-use plastic ban (2020) — source
- Safe water share left blank: WHO/UNICEF JMP does not publish a reliable safely managed drinking water estimate for Kenya.
- Food import share left blank: no reliably comparable import-dependency figure verified.
- Our World in Data, CO2 country profile: Kenya source
- Climate Action Tracker, Kenya source
- IEA, Kenya emissions source
- UNESCO, Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity source
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, Kenya source
Living heritage and ancestral traditions
The culture still danced, played and believed
Kenya's heritage is exceptionally rich across more than forty communities. The Maasai adumu jumping dance and eunoto rites, benga music, and coastal Swahili taarab are all widely alive. Isukuti drumming of the Isukha and Idakho is inscribed by UNESCO, as are the Mijikenda kaya sacred forests, where ancestral traditions are still observed. Pastoralist peoples such as the Maasai, Samburu and Turkana maintain living indigenous practice.
- Maasai adumu jumping dance and eunoto rites
- benga music
- Swahili taarab
- isukuti drumming of the Isukha and Idakho
- Mijikenda kaya sacred forest ancestral traditions
- Samburu and Turkana pastoralist practice.
Sleep well, tread lightly
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