Kenya Walking, Bird Watching And Wildlife Safaris Since 1996

Who We Are

Ontdek Kenya the leader in walking safaris, birding tours and unique wildlife safaris is owned and operated by Peter and Anne Huysman with a team of experienced Kenyan guides. We are an active holiday outfitter specialized in Kenya and though it is possible to have other activities in Kenya, we deliberately restrict our offerings to walking safaris and bird watching tours as these are activities we are passionate about and experienced in. Based on the number of clients, we are not a big company and this is how we wish to be, as our focus is to a serve a niche of the discerning nature travelers on a very personal level rather than run convoys of safari buses. We are convinced that we are meeting and exceeding our clients' expectations as several of them have traveled repeatedly with us and many of our new booking are from referrals of past clients. We have also been listed by the Lonely Planet, the authoritative travelers guide.

"Ontdek" meaning discover in Dutch, has a lot to do with our background because Peter, a computer programmer by training, is a Dutch speaking Belgian who has been living in Kenya since 1995. He is an avid birdwatcher and a hiker. His first tour to Kenya was in 1993. Wanting to be right in nature and having heard enough stories about package safaris whose emphasis was the "big 5" he believed that the camping tour would be the closest bet in satisfying his interests in birding and walking. Well, the tour had a bit of hiking and self-guided birding whenever time allowed but the level of comfort and logistics were wanting.

However with this tour he was hooked to Kenya and upon settling here in 1995, he traveled extensively in Kenya gaining deep knowledge of the country. Not surprisingly his first marketing base was Belgium and The Netherlands but since then our agents base has expanded to the rest of Europe, UK and US. He has led many walking tours and birding tours with a strong emphasis on good comfortable accommodation and perfect logistics. His love for walking is quite noticeable in his birding tours because wherever possible he encourages people to bird outside the vehicles. Likewise when guiding a hiking trip, he doesn't let a birding opportunity pass by. He has a very dependable team of Kenyan staff.

Anne, a Kenyan, had her career as an agricultural adviser and a high school teacher - jobs that had a lot of outdoor hours - which she enjoyed. Good communication was also a key in these careers and there is still no better test on this than high school students! As a co-owner of Ontdek Kenya she is mainly dealing with office operations, effectively communicating with clients (both co-operate and individual), agents and our suppliers. She is also involved in the research and design of the itineraries where she gives her input as an active woman who is passionate about walking and birding tours, comfortable accommodations, good food and perfect logistics that make travel safe and stress free.

While all the tours on offer are of great importance to her, the women tours, which are the latest addition to Ontdek's offers, are especially close to her.

Ontdek Kenya Ltd is really a family affair. Our two children, Farzana 11 yrs and Ifenya 9, literally hit the ground on a walking trail. They have traveled extensively with us in Kenya and on several occasions done all the walks in our itineraries. They started by joining the walks in the baby carriers, now they are young hikers and birders. Their experience has greatly helped us when designing tours for families with children. For example we know that kids want to participate in outdoor activities as long as their abilities can be accommodated, they don't like crowded hotels and neither can they handle daily changing of hotels.