Your first Kenyan safari: what to know before you fly

Everything below is the stuff people ask us after they have chosen a tour and before they have packed. None of it is complicated, but knowing it in advance takes the edge off a first trip.

Getting in: the eTA

Kenya dropped visas for all foreign visitors on 1 January 2024 and replaced them with an Electronic Travel Authorisation. Everyone except citizens of East African Community states needs one before boarding.

• Apply online at the government site, etakenya.go.ke — the processing fee is around US$30 and is not refunded if you are refused.
• Apply at least three days before you fly. You can apply up to three months ahead, which is what we would do.
• You will need a passport valid at least six months beyond arrival with a blank page, a photo, your return ticket and your accommodation details. We send you the accommodation list for your booking so you can paste it straight in.
• A yellow fever certificate is required if you are arriving from a country where yellow fever is present. Coming directly from Europe or North America, it generally is not.

Plenty of lookalike sites charge a markup to fill the same form in for you. Use the government address above.

Health, briefly and honestly

Most of Kenya’s safari circuit is malarial, and what you should take depends on your medical history, not on a website. See a travel clinic or your GP six to eight weeks before you travel, and ask specifically about malaria prophylaxis and whether your routine vaccinations are current. That is the whole of our advice on the subject, because the rest is properly a doctor’s job.

What a day on safari actually looks like

Not a constant chase. A normal day runs something like this:

• 5.30–6am — tea or coffee, and out. The first two hours are the best of the day: cool air, active predators, low gold light.
• 9–10am — back to camp for a proper breakfast, or a bush breakfast if the sighting is worth staying for.
• Midday — the animals rest in shade and so do you. Sleep, swim, read. Nothing happens and that is correct.
• 4pm — out again until the gates close, which in the Mara is 6pm sharp.
• Evening — dinner, often outside, often early, because you are getting up at 5.30 again.

Days are long and involve real distance on rough roads. If anyone in your group struggles with back pain or car sickness, tell us before we book the vehicle and the route.

Packing, the short list

• Layers. Dawn game drives are genuinely cold; by 10am it is hot. A fleece and a windproof earn their space.
• Neutral colours for comfort and dust, not camouflage — and avoid blue and black in tsetse country.
• Binoculars, one pair each. The single item most people wish they had brought. Sharing one pair ruins sightings.
• A soft bag if any leg of your trip is by light aircraft, which has strict weight limits and no space for hard cases.
• Sun hat, high-factor sunscreen, lip balm. You are on the equator at altitude.
• A power bank and the right plug: Kenya uses UK-style three-pin sockets at 240V, and camp generators do not always run all night.

Money and connectivity

Camps and lodges take cards. Cash is for tips and curio stalls, and US dollars are widely accepted alongside shillings — bring notes issued in the last decade, as older ones are often refused. Mobile data is good in towns, patchy to absent in the parks, and most camps have wi-fi in the main area rather than in the rooms. Treat a few days offline as part of the trip.

Where to start

If you are still choosing, our shorter trips are built for first-timers: three days in the Masai Mara, four with Lake Nakuru added, or three in Samburu if you would rather avoid the crowds. Read the day-by-day, then send us your dates and we will tell you what they will actually give you.

Entry requirements checked September 2026. Rules change — confirm on the official site before you fly.