Middle East & Africa



Can’t make it to Kenya right now? You can still experience all the country has to offer virtually, as a new tourism campaign will be broadcasting live video of a “bush to beach safari”.

In a photpgraph taken by Make It Kenya 7 January 2016, a large male lion sits in long grass in the late evening in the Olare Motorgi Conservancy bordering tha Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya.

In a photpgraph taken by Make It Kenya 7 January 2016, a large male lion sits in long grass in the late evening in the Olare Motorgi Conservancy bordering tha Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya. Image by MAKE IT KENYA PHOTO / STUART PRICE

Using the live video streaming app Periscope, users can check out the nightlife of lions on conservancies in the Maasai Mara and the underwater life of turtles in Watamu.

The tourism board, Make It Kenya, has partnered with HerdTracker, a web-app that plots the location of the great wildebeest migration in real time and broadcast the event on Periscope in October.

In a photpgraph taken by Make It Kenya 07 January 2016, Andre Van Kets (left) and Carel Verhoef, creators of the website HerdTracker, an online resource which tracks and documents east Africa's great wildebeest migration, prepare to stream a live broadcast on the Periscope application.

In a photpgraph taken by Make It Kenya 07 January 2016, Andre Van Kets (left) and Carel Verhoef, creators of the website HerdTracker, an online resource which tracks and documents east Africa’s great wildebeest migration, prepare to stream a live broadcast on the Periscope application. Image by MAKE IT KENYA PHOTO / STUART PRICE

Now, 50 live broadcasts will run from 7 to 18 January, an average of about three videos per day.

The team will use a starlight camera to capture night video of the lions and the broadcast will be the first of their kind, according to Make It Kenya. Another broadcast will be from the Watamu Turtle Watch project, which will feature live footage on a ‘turtlecam’, a GoPro strapped to a turtle’s back. Videos are also set to show off some of the tourist activities visitors can experience in Kenya, including a dhow cruise, treetop yoga, kite surfing and paddle boarding.

In a photograph taken by Make It Kenya 8 January 2016, a family group of three cheetah stand atop a termite mound in the early morning in the Olare Motorgi Conservancy bordering tha Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya.

In a photograph taken by Make It Kenya 8 January 2016, a family group of three cheetah stand atop a termite mound in the early morning in the Olare Motorgi Conservancy bordering tha Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya. Image by MAKE IT KENYA PHOTO / STUART PRICE

The broadcasts, which began onThursday, have already captured lions, cheetahs and a mongoose.

Updates on broadcasts can be found on Twitter @MakeItKenya and at #KenyaLive.

Read more: Born free…again: the revival of Kenya’s Meru National Park