Planning to Tour Kenya

My plan to tour kenya started long before the rise of Obama and the hype it has come with.
I came to like the destination from what I had read about the country, and what I had seen from movies and a TV series shot there.
A couple that is a friend of mines also made a successful Kenya tour and they told me that it was a fantastic destination - thus further whetting my appetite to tour kenya. Although I had for long wanted to tour Kenya, I was initially put-off by the cost, as I came to learn that Kenya is not (really) considered a cheap destination.
Then a friend of mine who had also made a successful tour to Kenya informed that while formal Kenya tour packages can be quite expensive, I could significantly reduce the cost of the Kenya tour by making my own travel and accomodation arrangements. I established from this friend what a typical Kenya tour would cost if I personally made my travel and accomodation arrangements, and from the figure he gave me - which brought the Kenya tour within my reach - I immediately started making real plans to tour Kenya. In planning to tour Kenya, I had to secure a visa to the country - (not really a hassle), book a flight and research on the web for the things I really needed to know before embarking on my Kenya tour.