Why international celebrities like secret holiday trips to Kenya

Many Hollywood celebrities holiday in different parts of Kenya while at the same time bringing their ‘A list’ lifestyle: personal chauffeur’s, chefs, besides hiring entire hotel floors to themselves.

While some of them choose to spend their holiday in the country, others come on official trips but keep their visits private.

Business Insider SSA looks at some of the international celebrities who secretly visited Kenya:

1. Naomi Campbell

Naomi Campbell has on numerous occasions made Kenya her favourite destiny in recent years. The British super model who has never hidden her love for ”’beautiful and natural’ Kenya made a successful secret visit to the country back in 2015.

She also spent this year's Easter holiday in Malindi at the exotic Lion In The Sun beach resort owned by Italian billionaire Flavio Briatore.

2. Bill Gates

The Microsoft founder made his first visit to Kenya in 2006 where he chose to stay at the private conservancy eco-lodge Shompole Lodge with his family. Bill fell in love with the simplicity of the lodge located in Kajiado District mainly due the privacy it offers its clientele.

3 years later, he made his second visit to the country to check out how his humanitarian efforts of wrestling down HIV/Aids and malaria in Kenya via the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. So private was the visit that even Eldoret residents, who mingled freely with Gates, came to learn of his status days after he was gone.

3. Jose Mourinho

The Manchester United boss was in 2010 spotted holidaying in Kenya’s south coast. The 54-year-old tactician spent two weeks in the country but refused to have his photograph taken or grant interviews with reporters during his Kenyan visit, which included a stay in the famed Maasai Mara Game Reserve.

4. Nicholas Cage

The Oscar winning actor was recently in Kenya while shooting the movie ‘Dying Of The Light’. Cage known for his ‘face off’ managed to sneak in his entire casting crew without attracting media attention. His presence in Kenya only became known months later after the movie’s official release in 2014.

5. Alicia Keys

American Grammy winning songstress Alicia Keys made a secret visit to Kenya in 2006 in one of her follow ups on projects she had been funding through Keep a Child Alive organization.

Keys who visited Coast Provincial Hospital in Mombasa had successfully managed to put his visit in the dark till the local journalists learned of her presence hours before she returned back home.

6. Katy Perry

American pop singer Katy Perry is rumoured to have made a secret visit to Kenya back in 2014. The UNICEF supporter is said to have been on safari and avoided publicity.

Katy fuelled the rumor when she posted a photo next to a giraffe, which she captioned in Swahili: 'Hakuna matata bruh.'

7. Rita Ora

British singer and actress Rita Ora was recently in Kenya to celebrate her 27th birthday. She documented her visit in a series of Instagram photos which included spending sometime at the Maasai Mara.