December 2020

Gary is an Adventure Sales Specialist for Adventures Africa, a tour operator specializing in customized experiences for Southern & Eastern Africa. Jeff traveled to Kenya in September and tells about his experience with updates on the latest entry requirements for this bucket-list destination with so many attractions. 
Reading time:  10 minutes, 40 seconds

Q. What should US tourists know about going to Kenya now?
A: Kenya has been very aggressive in dealing with the Covid-19 global pandemic from the very beginning. National mask-wearing mandates (with violators subject to fines/arrest), solid health & safety protocols being enforced from the top down, and nightly curfews being enforced has resulted in the country having dramatically fewer cases than many/most other countries in the world. As of today, Kenya has registered 77,785 positive cases, with 51,903 recoveries and 1,392 deaths. By comparison, this represents 0.63% of the 12,300,000+ positive US cases and 0.54% of the documented 257,000 US Covid-19 deaths.
 
Kenya has been awarded both the Safe Travel Stamp by the WTTC and the Safer Tourism Seal by Rebuilding Travel. In addition, in order for hotels, camps, and lodges to remain open, they will be inspected every 6 months to confirm that they continue to follow the required health & safety protocols.
 
Visiting Kenya now is going to provide visitors with an experience they are unlikely to obtain in the future. Game reserves and camps that ordinarily would be full; wildlife sightings that would have 80 trucks on site now have 3; experiences that would usually be shared with several others are now private. It’s a truly remarkable time to be on safari in Kenya.

Q. Are all hotel services and facilities fully open and accepting visitors?
A. Most hotels, lodges, and camps are now open. Based on anticipated occupancy levels and seasonality, some safari properties are still closed and will be opening shortly or when the appropriate season dictates. Services and facilities are typically open and available – restaurants; bars; etc. These may still be subject to the national curfew and to occupancy levels and social distancing requirements. Our hotels in Nairobi had their rooftop bars and restaurants open and were serving a full menu. It felt great to have that option available and instilled a sense of normalcy. It’s also quite different at the safari camps and lodges as the very nature of safari lends itself to social distancing and to being outdoors. We cater almost all of our meals outside. The camps have also suspended any communal dining and all guests will be seated at private tables by party for all meals. Everything was served a la carte or was laid out for the specific table.

Q. Are activities and excursions available?
A. Many of activities and excursions are available. In Nairobi, you can visit the Giraffe Center, but the Sheldrick Trust is still closed. At the safari camps, the various activities that they usually offer are still available subject to staffing, etc. The one exception is typically the community visits where one would normally be able to visit the local towns, schools, etc. with one of the camps' guides. For the most part, these are on hold for the time being. When we did our visit to the Meta Meta Orphanage in Kangemi, that took us into one of Nairobi’s largest slums where there was no social distancing and very little mask-wearing with the exception of our team. So for most visitors, these types of experiences may be better left to a later date.

Q. What's it like to dine out, go shopping, go on safari?
Dining out felt pretty normal. Restaurants will actually take your temperature as you enter and provide hand sanitizer to you. Masks are worn to enter and when not at your table, but you are fine without them when seated and eating/drinking. They are not as crowded as they usually would be and all service is a la carte. The country has just recently extended the national curfew which runs from 10:00 pm to 4:00 am, so you won’t have late-night dining or nightlife. Some restaurants are also not currently serving alcohol.
 
The shopping malls and most stores are open. When we took the kids shopping for their uniforms and did our big grocery run in downtown Nairobi, the sales staff were all wearing masks as were all the other shoppers. We had to have our temperatures taken and our hands were sprayed with sanitizer to enter the grocery store. Once you embrace these protocols, it was all quite normal. Certainly nice to have that level of cooperation compared to what we are dealing with here in the US.
 
Safaris are currently amazing. Unlike anything we have experienced in Kenya before. The lack of people and abundance of wildlife is making for truly once-in-a-lifetime experiences. I will never forget some of the sightings that we had in September – spending hours with a full pride of lions and all their cubs – and we were the only ones there! There’s also an urgency to getting people back on safari:  1) having guests, guides, and trucks out in the bush is a significant preventative to poaching. There is definite pressure on the system right now as those local communities may be forced to turn to bushmeat and poaching as the tourism revenue is no longer filtering to them. So it’s not just the organized crime element to be concerned with, and 2) many of these camps and lodges need the return of international tourists as the rates they charge for locals cannot sustain them.

Q. What are the requirements to enter Kenya?
A.  Kenya currently has certain requirements for US Citizens to gain entry:
Negative Covid-19 PCR Test:

Everyone must present a negative Covid-19 PCR Test taken within 96 hours prior to travel (use your flight departure time as the basis for the 96-hour calculation). This test does need to be a PCR test and state that on the report. Ours read “NAA-PCR”, which stands for Nucleic Acid Amplification. We would recommend that your report indicates that it is a PCR test and that you print out this report and not just have it on your phone. It is highly likely that they will ask to see the test report at check-in – they did with us – so have it handy. When we traveled, there was a lot of uncertainty around how long it would take to get the test results with no one guaranteeing a specific turnaround time. Our timing was complicated by the fact that we were traveling a couple of days after Labor Day. We did a lot of research as to which testing facilities were using which labs, etc. In the end, we each took two tests from different facilities using different labs and had all 4 results prior to our flights – 2 of them within 36 hours; 1 in 48 hours; and 1 in 72 hours. 

Travelers Health Surveillance Form & QR Code:

Kenya’s Ministry of Health is requiring all travelers to fill out this form and generate a QR Code to be read by Port Health Officials on arrival.  We recommend also printing out the completed form with the QR Code and bringing it with you in addition to having the code readily available electronically.

Kenya E-Visa:
We highly recommend getting your Kenya eVisa in advance online. This avoids any uncertainty or delays upon arrival in Nairobi. The current cost is $51 USD and it will take a couple of days for the approval at which point you can print out your eVisa to take with you.

Thermal Temperature scan:
After disembarkation in Nairobi, there will be a thermal temperature scan and the collection of your Health Surveillance Form before you proceed to Customs.

Q. What makes Kenya better than before?
A.  The single biggest element here is the lack of crowds and the truly private safari experience that can currently be realized without the need to pay up for that. Combine this with the general friendliness of the Kenyan people and the way the tourism sector has gone above and beyond to focus on their health & safety protocols driving the return of international tourism and you have the makings of an amazing vacation.


We were so impressed with our experience in September that we are already taking a small escorted group of 10 guests back to Kenya in early January and are working on similar trips to South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Kenya again I would much rather be on the ground in Kenya experiencing all the country has to offer than dealing with what’s going on here in the US. 

For a detailed report on international air, specific camps and resorts visited, see HERE (appx. 28-minute read)