Your questions, answered

As a guide, expect roughly $1,500–5,000 per person for 3 days in the Maasai Mara, $2,800–8,500 for a 7-day multi-park trip, and $3,800–10,500 for 10 days combining safari and beach. Those assume two people sharing a private 4×4 with a driver-guide. Every package on our site shows a live price for your exact dates, so you never have to guess.

Full board accommodation, a private 4×4 with your own driver-guide, all road transfers, drinking water throughout, and conservancy fees where the camp bills them to us.

National park and reserve entry fees, which are set by the county governments and the Kenya Wildlife Service and paid on arrival — we show you exactly what they will be, and can collect them with your booking if you prefer. Also excluded are international flights, your Kenya eTA, travel insurance, tips, drinks and laundry.

April and May. The long rains bring lodge rates down sharply, and the Maasai Mara park fee is $100 per person per day from January to June, against $200 from July to December. January and February are the sweet spot if you want low-season pricing with dry weather.

Around $15–25 per person per day covers it. Your driver-guide is usually tipped directly at the end of the trip, and camp staff share a communal tip box. M-Pesa is widely used and often easier than cash.

Card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal or M-Pesa. You can also reserve now and pay later to hold a spot while you finalise flights.

Bring some US dollars for tips and curio shopping. Notes should be crisp and dated 2009 or later, as older or damaged bills are often refused. Lodges and shops in towns take cards.

July to October for the wildebeest migration and reliably dry weather. January and February are quieter and just as dry, with warm days and thinner crowds — many people prefer them.

The herds are usually in the Maasai Mara from July to October, and the dramatic river crossings are most likely in August and September. It follows the rain rather than a calendar, so timing shifts a little each year and no operator can promise a crossing on a given day.

Five to seven days suits most first trips. Three days works for the Mara alone but feels rushed once you subtract travel time. Ten days lets you add the coast without hurrying.

Yes, and it is underrated. Rain usually arrives as a short afternoon burst rather than all-day drizzle, mornings are often clear, the landscape is green, and the parks are much quieter. April and May are wettest; November’s short rains are lighter.

Yes. Safari parks, conservancies and coastal resorts are well run and used to international visitors. Ordinary city sense applies in parts of Nairobi, and the far northeastern border region is not somewhere tourists go. Your guide stays with you throughout.

Antimalarials are recommended for the Mara, Amboseli, Tsavo and the coast — speak to your doctor or a travel clinic about which suits you. Pack insect repellent with DEET for evenings, and camps provide bed nets.

A yellow fever certificate is only required if you are arriving from a country where yellow fever is present. Hepatitis A and typhoid are commonly advised, and routine vaccinations should be up to date. Check with a travel clinic a few weeks before you fly.

Stick to bottled or filtered water. We keep drinking water in the vehicle throughout your trip, and lodges provide it in rooms.

Almost certainly not. The safari parks sit between roughly 1,500 and 2,300 metres, which most people barely notice. A few guests feel briefly short of breath on the first night at the higher Aberdares lodges. Genuine altitude sickness is a Mount Kenya concern, not a safari one.

Kenya replaced tourist visas with an Electronic Travel Authorisation (eTA) in 2024. You apply online before you fly at etakenya.go.ke — the fee is around $30 plus a small processing charge, and approval usually takes one to three days. Apply at least two weeks ahead.

Only at the official government site, etakenya.go.ke. A number of lookalike sites charge several times the real fee for the same thing. If a site is asking far more than about $30, you are not on the official one.

A passport valid for at least six months beyond your travel dates with blank pages, your printed eTA approval, travel insurance details, your safari confirmation and a return flight itinerary.

We strongly recommend it, and some camps require proof of it. Make sure your policy covers medical evacuation, which matters in remote conservancies where the nearest hospital is a flight away.

Neutral colours — khaki, olive, tan, grey. Avoid dark blue and black, which attract tsetse flies. Pack layers, because mornings in an open vehicle are genuinely cold and midday is hot. Closed-toe shoes, a hat and a light fleece cover most days.

Insect repellent with DEET, high-factor sunscreen, a headlamp or small torch, any personal medication, and a camera with as much zoom as you own. Binoculars transform a game drive if you have a pair.

A soft duffel if any part of your trip involves a light aircraft, where the limit is usually around 15kg including hand luggage and hard cases often will not fit. For road-only itineraries a normal suitcase is fine.

Most mid-range and luxury camps offer same-day laundry, so three or four days of clothing comfortably covers a week. By local custom camps generally do not wash underwear, and usually leave washing powder in the room for it.

Lodge WiFi exists but is often slow and drops out. A local Safaricom SIM, available at the airport on arrival, is far more reliable for messaging and maps. Expect little to no signal in the deeper parts of some parks — which many guests end up enjoying.

On a trip of five days or more it is a realistic goal. Lion, elephant and buffalo are near certain in the Mara. Leopard takes patience and luck. For rhino, Lake Nakuru, Ol Pejeta Conservancy and Nairobi National Park are your strongest bets.

Conservancies such as Mara North, Naboisho and Olare Motorogi limit how many vehicles can gather at a sighting, and permit off-road driving, night drives and walking safaris — none of which are allowed inside the main Maasai Mara reserve. They cost more, and the experience is genuinely different: fewer vehicles, closer access, more time alone with the animals.

The Maasai Mara, for sheer density of wildlife. Amboseli pairs big elephant herds with views of Kilimanjaro, Samburu offers northern species you will not see further south, and Tsavo is vast and far quieter than either.

Yes, but only in private conservancies. National parks and the main Maasai Mara reserve close at dusk and do not permit walking. If either matters to you, tell us and we will build your trip around a conservancy stay.

A dawn hot air balloon flight over the Mara is the classic splurge at roughly $450 per person. There is also horseback safari in Laikipia, guided bush walks with Maasai guides, and camps built beside waterholes where the wildlife comes to you.

Very easily, and most people are glad they did. The usual route is Mara to Diani Beach, either on a short flight from the airstrip via Nairobi or straight into Mombasa. Three or four nights on the coast rounds off a safari nicely.