Tips for travelling to Kenya

In this section, you will find information and tips re:

Customs Requirements

A full valid passport with at least 6 months left is required. You also need to apply for a visa - cost approx £30 (single entry). This applies to tourists visiting Kenya for periods not exceeding 30 days. Travel Agents also offer this service but it is more cotly than applying directly to the Kenyan High Authority.
Other than British nationalities need to apply directly to the Kenyan Embassy.
It is also possible to purchase a visa upon arrival in Kenya.
Information is also available at www.fco.gov.uk/travel.

Immunisation

Up-to-date immunisation required for travel to Kenya:

There are several types of anti-malerial tablets - Malarone tablets (Atovoquone 250mg with Proguanil 100mg) are taken as one tablet daily, starting 2 days prior to travel, during travel, + 7 days after return to UK These are available only as a 'private prescription' from your GP.
Malarone tablets are usually well tolerated by most (with fewer side-effects than other types of anti-malerial tablets) but are quite expensive.
Advice: shop around - Tesco pharmacy: cost £2.30 per tablet - Independent Chemists: cost varying from £2.40 to £2.80 per tablet!

Most of the immunisation required can generally be arranged free of charge through the NHS (GP surgery) apart from Yellow Fever which has to be given by a 'Yellow Fever Centre'.
Cost: around £45 - in Essex, from £42 to £46.

Mosquitoes

Mosquito bites carry risks - Maleria and Yellow Fever.
Maleria is a dangerous disease that is spread by mosquitoes that bite from dusk to dawn.
Yellow fever, equally as dangerous, is spread by mosquitoes that bite during the day.
Even when vaccinated for Yellow fever and taking anti-malerial tablets as advised, it is highly recommended to use mosquito-deterrent products. The most efective type is a 'Deet' product - available from Sports and Camping stores. Other recommended supplier: internet-based Travel Pharm.
Advice can be found at Deetonline, a very informative website on Deet and prevention of mosquito bites. Deet need to be applied to all exposed areas of skin likely to attract mosquito bites. It needs to be applied every 5 or 8 hours depending on the strength of the product bought. It proved to be very effective - neither of us got bitten.
Additionally, all beds in hotels visited (in the affected areas) had nets fitted around the beds.

Water

It is highly recommended not to drink tap water - or even brush one's teeth using tap-water - in hotels (lodges). Bottled water (boiled water) is provided in most hotels and lodges and it is also possibly to buy extra bottled water from the hotels and shops. We were also advised against eating salads - although hotels and lodges claimed it was safe, when we asked, - as no guarantee was given regarding the water used for washing salad products.

Electrical fittings (plugs)

Kenya use the same electrical fittings as the UK - ie 3-pin plugs / sockets and 220 v.

Seasons and Weather: what to expect / best time to go

Time Zone

Kenya is set on the East Africa Time Zone - ie GMT + 3hours.
In practical terms, it means that if you go to Kenya during the winter months (approx 30th October - 30th March) you will move your clock 3 hours forward while in Kenya. However, if you go to Kenya during the Spring or Summer months (British Summer Time - approx 30th March - 30th October), you will only need to move your clock 2 hours forward while in Kenya.

Currency

The Kenya Shilling is the official currency used in Kenya.
120 Kenyan Shilling = approx £1.

Shopping for souvenirs

Although Kenya is one of the better-off countries in Africa, it has a high level of poverty. Most of the wealth is in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya.
Travelling through Kenya, tourists are constantly offered metal bangles, wooden animals (giraffes, elephants etc), ebony chess-boards and 'African art' paintings on fabric.
'Curio shops' are routine stops for tourists in transit from Nairobi to the various Safari locations. These offer 'toilet facilities', drinks... and above all the ultimate experience in the art of haggling! These shops are flooded with goods (mainly wooden ornaments), none of them priced. Instead, each potential shopper attracts the instant attention of a sort of 'personal shopping assistant' who will escort him/her during his/her whole shopping experience. No prices are given until the shopper has selected a number of items - you are told that 'the more you buy, the better the price'...
It can be frustrating to feel that these Kenyans think that Europeans have 'bottomless' purses and pockets, plus a few money-trees growing in their garden, back home.
As a first attempt, I naively chose a couple of pictures and a set of salad spoons. I estimated the cost should be in the region of £15... and nearly fell over when the 'bargain price' I had haggled for reached a staggering £80!!

At the entry point to all the National Animal Reserves, tourists are relentlessly offered the same metal bangles and 'African art'... 'No' doesn't mean anything... until you drive away.
Personally, I felt that the choice of goods and souvenirs available was extremely limited (always the same) and the pressure was like nothing I had ever experienced in Europe.
Relatively, the best shopping places were actually the Hotel shops (Serena Hotels). I was very surprised to see that the same wooden spoons (salad servers) which I had been offered for £15 in the Curio shops... and eventually paid £7 for after much haggling... could be bought from one of these Hotel (Lodge) shops for a mere £4.50!

Nairobi airport was actually the best shopping place of all - more affordable prices than anywhere else, and a wider range of goods on offer - I found some nice cotton cloth (Masai style) for a reasonable £6-7 - although quite a typical product, I hadn't had the chance to purchase anything like this anywhere else in Kenya.
Prices at Nairobi airport are given in US Dollars but it is ok to purchase with either Kenyan Shillings or US Dollars.

Language - People

Although Kenyans speak Kiswahili between themselves, they all speak good English - and some of them (in the Curio tourist shops) even tried a few words of French - anything's worth a try for a sale!

We found most Kenyans we met in the Lodges (hotels) very friendly and very polite and were constantly met with: 'Hello, how are you?'. This was very nice but did take a slightly obsequious flavour when you realised the universal attraction towards earning a tip...

Outside our 'holiday tour protection group', we met with mixed reactions from the Kenyans living in poor villages. Some children smiled and waved at us whereas many had a look of hatred in their eyes and I was amazed to see very young children lifting their hands and rubbing their fingers, asking for money...
On route between our main stops, we felt very threatened whenever we stopped as our vehicle soon got surrounded by people begging for money and asking us to buy their goods - usually fruits or cheap African bangles etc.
This made me realise how grateful I was for our guide: not only did he know where to take us... but I was glad to rely on his protective knowledge - worth every penny and more!

Many of the people we saw seem to walk very long distances along the mud-tracks which serve as main roads. We saw many children as young as 3 walking (probably to school) unaccompanied by any adults. In Kenya, children wear school uniforms which are very similar in colours to those worn by English children in Britain - one major difference, though: away from Nairobi, some uniforms were in rags...

More Tips

Kenya - poverty level and tourist tips

Kenya has an high level of poverty as you travel away from the centre of Nairobi - a rare pocket of affluence where you could forget you have left Europe! As soon as you reach the outskirts of the capital, poverty is a stricking influence. Shanti towns and shacks are the norm. Shortly after you leave the capital, tarmac is replaced by mud tracks and villages 'high streets' are uneven soil paths between rows of corrugated metal sheets serving as shops or habitation.
This explains that the tourists are seen as very affluent and constantly sought for what little money they can spread on their way.
Very young children walking by themselves are often seen by the side of the roads - they already know that they must ask for money: although some will wave and smile, most will raise their hands and rub their fingers asking for money...
In the Lodges (hotels), staff are obviously among the luckier as they have a job providing an income. Tipping is a very general thing is Kenya. The tourist will be offered any kind of service - needed... or not! - just for the chance of earning of few shillings.
For example, you will never be able to carry your own bag - even though you might prefer to! - as you are immediately surrounded by a crowd of porters who immediately pick up your bag and leave you no option but follow them... and deliver a 50 Kenyan Shilling tip (50 pence) for the service - porters will start queuing at your door as early as 5.30 am hoping that they will have the chance to carry your bag if you leave, at some point during the morning!
Tipping is mandatory for all services - each meal taken, guides on safari tour, porters, anytime you might enjoy the smallest service...

Kenyan poverty: how you can help!

Travelling through Kenya, we were asked a number of times for pens, biros, books, magazines...
Although we saw a great many schools along the way - some very delapidated... - school supplies are, like everything else, a luxury. I really wished I had taken some biros and magazines to give out... an easy and unexpensive way to make a few people happy.

Useful websites

Although the information on this page is thought to be accurate - April 2006 - it is only given as a general guide; please check with the relevant authorities for up-to-date information if you consider travelling to Kenya.