Kenya safari travel tips

Entry requirements

Kenya operates an advance electronic travel authorisation system for most visitors, applied for online before travel. Requirements, fees and processing times change, and there are a great many unofficial sites that will charge you extra to fill in the same form.

Health

Most Kenyan safari areas are malarial, and antimalarial medication is the norm. Yellow fever certificate requirements depend on where you are arriving from and do change. Some travellers are also advised on typhoid, hepatitis A and rabies depending on their itinerary and how long they are staying.

None of that is a decision for a website. See a travel clinic or your own doctor six to eight weeks before you fly, and take your itinerary with you so they can advise on the specific areas and altitudes you will be in. We will give you that detail in writing.

• Take out travel insurance that explicitly covers medical evacuation. Remote airstrips are a long way from a hospital and evacuation is expensive.
• Bring any prescription medication in its original packaging, with enough for the whole trip plus a few days.
• Drink bottled or filtered water. Every camp provides it.
• The sun at altitude and on the equator is stronger than it feels, particularly in an open vehicle with a breeze on you.

What to pack

Light aircraft to the airstrips enforce strict baggage limits — commonly around 15kg per person in a soft bag, with no wheels or rigid frame. Camps do laundry, usually daily and usually included, so you need far less than you think.

Note: plastic bags are banned in Kenya. Use fabric or mesh bags for packing and leave plastic ones at home.

Money and tipping

The currency is the Kenyan shilling. US dollars are widely accepted for larger tourism payments, but bring notes issued in 2013 or later — older notes are often refused. Cards work in cities and at most camps and lodges; ATMs are plentiful in towns and absent in the parks.

M-Pesa, the mobile money system, is used for almost everything by Kenyans and is straightforward for visitors with a local SIM.

Tipping is customary and genuinely matters to the people receiving it. Your pre-departure notes should suggest a range for your guide and for the camp staff tip box — if they do not, ask, and we will give you a figure rather than leaving you to guess awkwardly on the last morning.

Phones, wifi and power

Mobile coverage in Kenya is better than most visitors expect, including in parts of the Mara. A local SIM or eSIM from Safaricom or Airtel is cheap and easy at the airport, and is worth it for data alone.

Most camps have wifi, though it is often only in the main area and often slow — which many people come to appreciate. Power is 240V with UK-style three-pin sockets. Tented camps frequently run on solar with limited charging hours, so bring a power bank and charge when you can rather than when you need to.

Photography

• A 100–400mm zoom covers most of what you will want. Longer is better for birds; wider is better than people expect for landscape and for elephants at close range.
• Bring more memory cards than you think and back up every evening. A dropped card on day two is a long ten days.
• Dust is the real enemy. Change lenses as little as possible, and keep a dry bag or even a plastic-free cloth bag over the body between sightings.
• A beanbag beats a tripod in a vehicle. Most camps have them; ask when you book.
• Ask before photographing people. Always. A camera pointed at someone who has not agreed is rude in Kenya exactly as it is at home.

Around wildlife

• Stay in the vehicle unless your guide tells you otherwise. Animals treat a vehicle as a single large object and a standing human breaks that.
• Keep your voice down and your arms inside. Sudden movement is what ends a sighting.
• Never come between an elephant and its calf, or a hippo and water. Your guide knows this; trust them when they reverse.
• At night in camp, take the escort. Staff will walk you to your tent for a reason.
• Zip your tent fully, including at night. Baboons and vervet monkeys are quick, clever and entirely unsentimental.

Respect and etiquette

A few things that make a difference and cost nothing. Greet people before asking a question — a "jambo" or "habari" first is normal and its absence is noticed. Dress modestly in towns and on the coast, particularly in Lamu and Mombasa old town. Ask before photographing people, and accept no as an answer.

If you visit a community, go with a camp that has a real, long-standing relationship with its neighbours rather than a coach-party arrangement, and pay the agreed fee without haggling. Say so on the enquiry form if this matters to you and we will plan accordingly.

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