An active holiday in Kenya

After lunch we separated for down time, or for individual sessions on balance and posture, feedback chats (courses are adjusted accordingly) or a sublime full-body massage from Checkie. Late afternoon exercises often accompanied an outing. At Che-Shale, we had a huge sandy bay to ourselves for beach footy and volleyball. The truly committed did masochistic sprints up the shifting sand dunes.

Courses are personally tailored to be as gentle or demanding as you choose. There's no pressure, just encouragement and motivation to help you towards or beyond your goals. This filtered down to make the atmosphere supportive rather than competitive among our group of seven twenty and thirtysomethings (though Wild Fitness is suitable for all ages). "I would recommend it to anyone, whatever their fitness," enthused Lisa, a database expert, glowing with satisfaction after having completed (contrary to her expectations) a 4km swim across a mangrove-lined creek.

My concerns that we'd feel insulated here proved misplaced: thanks to Tara's insider knowledge and imagination, we really got to know this exquisite area. We took a dhow cruise, visited a snake farm and the medieval Swahili Gedi Ruins (a superb distraction before an 8km forest run), watched turtles laying their eggs on the beach at midnight and lunched African-style at a tree reserve established by locals. External activities available include diving, game fishing and windsurfing.

Tara led us round the relaxed local bars, and we shimmied one night with Giriana tribal dancers by firelight on the beach. Despite our exercise programme we still couldn't shake our hips half as fast as they could, though this might have been due to the enormous barbecued grouper which we'd eaten beforehand.

Nutrition is an important component of Wild Fitness, but luckily "diet" meant eating the right things, rather than eating not much. Based on fresh local seafood, tropical fruit and vegetables, meals incorporated spicy East African flavours and soon had the group requesting the recipes. Freshly baked bread and corn cakes accompanied every meal, and fruit loaves kept us going mid-afternoon until substantial three-course dinners. Wine and beer consumption was pretty feeble - due more to communal exhaustion than piety.

As the course progressed, it was rewarding to watch our heart-rates lower and to feel fitter. Still, I couldn't keep up with Hellen Kiprotich, an international sprinter known as Kenya's Marion Jones, when she joined us for interval training in a clearing in the mangrove swamps one morning. Our karate session was also led by a Kenyan team veteran, amid great hilarity as we attempted Bruce Lee-style chops to commands shouted in a wonderful Afro-Japanese accent.

On days like these you wonder how you could ever not exercise: what could be more fun, more rewarding? But Tara's team understands how hard it is to incorporate fitness into pressurised daily lifestyles. They aim to give you skills and knowledge that can be adapted to your circumstances, offering an email support service and "top-up" weekends in Britain.

If ever proof were needed that sub-Saharan Africa offers world-class tourism products beyond the safari sphere, it lies here. Wild Fitness allows you to shed inhibitions, try new activities and stretch both body and mind. You learn to punch and kick and laugh a lot. And to make yourself go just that little bit faster when your course-mates scream at you to "RUN!"

Stephanie Debere flew to Kenya courtesy of Kenya Airways.

For more information about travel in Africa, visit Travel Africa Magazine

Published in Travel Africa Edition Nineteen: Spring 2002.Text is subject to Worldwide Copyright (c)