Kenya Safari Guide

Introduction

Untitled

The natural areas of Kenya are some of the most beautiful and engaging places I've ever been. The people are warm and intelligent, the setting gorgeous, and the wildlife intense. However, visiting takes a bit more preparation than booking a hotel on Clearwater Beach. This guide will tell you what to expect, how to prepare, and how to make the most of your trip from the perspective of the tourist, not a guide.

We visited Kenya guided by Beyond Your Dreams Safari, who I can't recommend enough. If you've looked into booking a safari trip, you may have noticed that you can't book a Marriott or ride an Uber out to Samburu. Planning the accommodations, food, travel, and guides takes a lot of work and expertise. I recommend getting expert help to plan and book a sensible trip.

My trip toured five locations:

  1. Emakoko
  2. Lewa Safari Camp
  3. Saruni Samburu
  4. Elephant Pepper Camp
  5. Amboseli Tortilis Camp

Untitled

Contents

Introduction

On Safari

Preparation

Travel

Budget

Resorts and Camps

Photography

Packing Recommendations

Insect Defense

Security

Culture

Language

Hygiene

Packing List

On Safari

Schedule

Safari outings usually happen twice a day. A typical schedule looks like this:

Pre-dawn Coffee at Lewa

You go out once in the early morning, return to camp during the heat of the day, and then go on a second safari in the evening. Early morning and evening are when most animals are active.

Untitled

Each truck seats six guests in three rows. Ours were open-sided with cloth roofs, although we did see some fully-enclosed safari vehicles. This allows you to get amazing photos and videos on the move, but also means you're exposed to dust, debris, and the occasional branch. Most of the vehicles looked to have been built in the 1990's or earlier. None of them had functional air conditioning.

The trucks were stocked with light blankets (useful for chilly mornings and evenings), beer, soda, snacks, and toilet paper. The guides also often had one or two sandbags to use as a camera platform, and guidebooks for the plants and animals.

Untitled

None of the trucks, whether Land Cruisers or Land Rovers were luxury vehicles. They're trucks meant for going off-road, which is where you will spend most of your time on safari. When you are on a road, it's a dirt road at best. You'll be bumped, rattled, jiggled, and rocked. The further back you sit on the truck, the more bumps you feel.

On one memorable occasion, our guide heard someone share a leopard sighting over the radio. Our guide told us to hold on, and then aimed the Land Cruiser off the road where the car launched off of boulders and dove into holes while racing downhill towards the leopard sighting. This pummeling of the truck and our rears continued for at least five minutes until we made a sharp turn around a tree and slammed to a halt just twenty feet from a cliff edge. We got a few seconds to glimpse the leopard before it walked away. It was exciting, and another adrenaline-packed reminder that we're not at Animal Kingdom!

Untitled

What to Bring in the Truck

The Animals aren't on Payroll

Most folks on safari want to see the animals, particularly the big five: lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant, and buffalo. Sometimes finding interesting animal activity is easy -- especially when there have been recent sightings. Sometimes it takes some searching.

Untitled

Unlike a zoo, animals are free to enter and exit the various reserves and conservancies. They're also free to react to human presence. On one of our safaris, a large female elephant oriented itself directly at our car, trumpeted, and started approaching while gesturing angrily with her trunk. She clearly wanted us to leave, so we backed up and drove the other direction.

Untitled

On another occasion, a lion walked within just a few feet of our Land Cruiser. This was my third day in Kenya, and I was astonished, thrilled, and slightly worried to have a massive scarred lion (pictured at the top of this page) so close to our open car.

Our guide advised us not to make loud noises or large movements when we're close to animals. And, like you'd expect, it's not a good idea to exit the vehicle without you're guide's OK.

Safari Entertainment

If you're in a large group, I suggest asking everyone what they want to get from their safari. Some people want variety, others have a checklist (like the big five), some folks only care about birds, and still others are there to learn. You're going to spend hours in the bush with these people; it only makes sense to ensure you all have a chance to get what you want.

Knowing what you want, you should probably ensure you have the tools you need to enjoy it. Even if you have a nice camera with a long lens, a decent pair of binoculars is a lot more comfortable to look through. They give you that 3-d separation, and can help you spot details you'd miss through a tiny viewfinder. Although our guides usually had extras to borrow, I think they're worth bringing. I packed an inexpensive pair of Bushnell binoculars that bounced around on the floor of the Land Cruiser with my camera sling. They got dirty, but never broke or got scratched, so I don’t regret not packing a protective case for them.

You should also plan for what you will do when there isn't a lot of activity. The lions are sleeping, the warthogs snoring. Will you sit back and enjoy a safari beer? Will you want to learn about the acacia trees or the termites? Maybe you want to ask your guide about their training, or about the local geography or ecosystem.

Preparation

Medical Preparation

I visited with a Mayo Clinic travel medicine specialist before departing on my trip. In advance of my trip, they reviewed my vaccination history, measured antibody levels, and asked for a complete itinerary.

The shared an educational video and reinforced that under no circumstances should I ever attempt to pet a monkey.

They prescribed these vaccines:

  1. Hepatitis A
  2. Hepatitis B
  3. Typhoid Fever
  4. MMR (because my measles antibody levels were low)
  5. Yellow Fever
  6. Flu

They also prescribed doses of Malarone for the trip. Malarone is an anti-malarial medication taken daily while in an area at risk for malaria, and for periods before and after spending time in those areas.

Finally, they prescribed an antibiotic for use in case of food poisoning.

They also provided guidance on using insect repellant (after the sunscreen).

In addition to Mayo's suggestions, I carried Tums (easy to overeat!), Imodium, ibuprofen, allergy medication, and melatonin.

Travel

Flights into and out of Nairobi were our responsibility. Other than that, travel within Kenya was provided for in our package. The resort guides picked us up and dropped us off for each leg of our journey. Most travel was by air (Safari Link), and once we rode a convoy of Land Cruisers from Lewa to Samburu. Driving between sites was interesting, because it gave you a glimpse into life outside of Nairobi, the reserves, and the conservencies.

Untitled

Budget

Expect a two-week Kenya safari trip to cost on the order of ten thousand US dollars per person. This includes accommodations, guides, food, (most) beverages, and travel within the country.

Payment

In my experience, the guide companies will want funds to be sent by check or wire well in advance of your trip.

Tipping

Our tipping guidelines as of 2023 were as follows. Check with your trip organizer for up-to-date suggestions. Although the US dollar isn't widely accepted in Kenya, the folks working with tour companies accept them.

Role Amount per day per guest
Safari Guide $20
Camp Staff $12
Drivers (when they aren't the safari guides) $10
Porters (for carrying bags) $2

Untitled

For example, if you're staying at three camps three days each, you would prepare:

Three envelopes containing $60; one for each guide. Present the tip envelope to your guide on the last full day of your stay with that guide.

Three envelopes containing $36 each; one for each camp's staff. Most camps had a drop box for these tips.

Three envelopes containing $2 to hand to the porter carrying your bags to your room and giving you a tour

If you have a separate driver for a ride between camps, they get $10.

If your party is two people, double the amount in each envelope.

Beyond Your Dreams Safaris recommended getting the cash and dividing it into envelopes for each role and place. Do this before leaving for Kenya, and pack the envelopes in a secure place.

Resorts and Camps

The Rooms

All the camps we stayed at featured private bedrooms of some sort. Some camps had permanent structures, and others had what amounted to fancy tents mounted on wooden platforms with plumbing, electrical outlets, and a roof. All of the bedrooms had showers (with limited hot water), sinks, and toilets. None of them had air conditioning, although several had electric fans.

The plumbed water was fine for bathing, but never for drinking or brushing teeth. Each camp provided a container of purified drinking water either in the room or in a public area. Most resorts also provided you with a branded water bottle to use during your stay and keep as a souvenir.

The beds were all equipped with mosquito nets.

Dining

The resorts provided breakfast, lunch, and dinner along with the house beer, wine, and spirits. Unless the weather was poor, we also enjoyed daily "sundowners," which consisted of snacks and beverages at some scenic overlook.

Untitled

All camps featured a shared dining area where most meals were consumed. Sometimes the menu was fixed, sometimes there were options to select from, and sometimes the meals were "family style" where you could help yourself to portions of a variety of dishes.

Elephant Pepper Camp Dining Tent

Most of the camps we visited had at least one "bush breakfast." On those days, you go out on safari before eating. Once day breaks, you converge on an ad-hoc camp to eat breakfast among the wildlife.

Untitled

Beverages

Several camps provided a morning coffee service; they'd deliver coffee, hot milk, and a small snack to your tent before the safari started. I have fond memories of drinking strong coffee on the deck of my tent in Lewa, watching the animals moving in the pre-dawn light.

While on safari, we sometimes enjoyed a "safari beer," usually Tusker.

Dawa Nightcap

In the evening, we often enjoyed gin & tonic, a Tusker beer, or dawa cocktails.

Laundry

Each resort we stayed at provided laundry service. Unless it rained, any laundry we left in the morning was returned clean and neatly folded in the afternoon. Note: You'll need to wash your own intimates (i.e., underwear); each resort provided us with powdered detergent for that purpose.

Since we each had three sets of clothing (one worn and two more), we were careful to plan laundry days so we wouldn't need something cleaned on a travel day.

Toiletries

The resorts provided body wash, shampoo, and lotion. Our guides suggested we not bring our own because the scents in US brands can attract unwanted attention from insects. The supplied products were infused with herbs we were told would repel insects.

The resorts also provided powdered detergent for washing underwear.

I suggest bringing plenty of sunscreen, and I’d also bring plenty of hand sanitizer since you may eat in the bush.

Water

Each resort had hot and cold running water and flushing toilets. While fine for showers, purified water was provided in pitchers or dispensers for drinking and brushing teeth. Most of the resorts also provided us with their own branded metal water bottles for taking on safari.

Gift Shops

Most of the resorts had gift shops with local art and trinkets, branded shirts and fleece jackets.

Photography

If there was one thing I wanted to leave Kenya with, it was a few good photos. However, with a 30 pound weight limit and harsh conditions, I had to take a practical approach to my gear. I couldn't bring every lens.

On top of that, I knew I would need longer telephoto zoom lenses to get good photos of the animals. I wanted at least a 400mm lens for my full-frame camera. I don't often use lenses that long, so I knew I would need practice before the trip. It's not a good idea to haul twenty pounds of photography gear across the world without having some recent experience with it.

Untitled

Gear

If you don't often use professional photography gear, there are two approaches I suggest:

Honestly, many of my iPhone photos blend right in with the photos I took with my full-frame camera. Any recent camera phone will probably work fine, but I suggest something with at least a 5X zoom lens.

If you plan on buying a dedicated camera, I suggest buying a mirrorless system. While a dSLR is great for many situations, I think most people will prefer and get better results with a mirrorless system like the Sony Alpha 7C (note: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases). No matter what you buy, you'll want a zoom that reaches at least 400mm for a full-frame camera, or about 250mm on a crop-sensor camera.

My very general advice for buying camera systems is this:

My preferred places to read camera reviews are DXO Mark and The Digital Picture. The first one is metrics based, and the second one gives good qualitative data and image samples.

Camera Gear I loved

This gear traveled with me to Kenya stuffed in the bottom of my carryon-sized backpack.

Shooting Conditions

The three things your camera gear will need to contend with are:

Untitled

The most important thing to prepare for is the dust. Bring tools to clean dust from your lenses and sensors. You and your gear will get covered in dust.

Second to dust is vibration. You're going to be boucing in a truck for hours. Use your camera straps wisely so you don't lose gear overboard. Put your unused gear in a padded case. Also, when you're using a lens so heavy that it has a tripod mount or lugs for a strap, attach your camera strap to the lens, not the camera body.

Camera Settings

Assuming your camera makes good decisions for ISO, aperture, and shutter speed, Auto mode will work fine for many situations. I often switched my Sony A7c to auto mode so I could capture the quickly-changing scenery without much delay.

Where auto mode doesn't work well is in tricky focus situations. You want a photo of a lion in tall grass. You want a photo of a bird in a tree. You want to capture a photo of a cheetah running. A cute critter is playing right next to your Land Cruiser's tire. This is when you will need to take focus into your own hands.

Untitled

When the subject is moving, you'll want continuous auto-focus. When the subject is partially behind another object, you'll want spot focus or manual focus. You can see an example with the dik-dik behind grass above; normal autofocus wants to focus on the grass, not the animal behind it. And if you're using a telephoto lens, you'll find that sometimes your subject is too close to focus at all. The jakal puppy below stared up at us just a couple of feet from our Land Cruiser, far too close for my 150mm-500mm lens to focus.

Untitled

I suggest getting a lot of practice switching between focus modes before traveling to Kenya. Practice how you will change focus modes, and practice switching between the camera configuration you'll need for landscape, action shots, close-up animal shots, and zoomed-in animal photos. If your telephoto lens has focus-range limiting switches, practice using them.

It was quite common for me to use my iPhone as a second camera to help me respond to rapidly changing situations. I usually put my iPhone in my shirt pocket so I could grab it if an animal moved in too close for my telephoto lens, or if I wanted to grab a wider landscape shot. The 1x camera on the iPhone is so good, I probably won't take a wider lens on future Safari trips.

Packing Camera Gear

Since we were traveling with a single carry-on sized bag, I decided to buy a camera bag that would fit inside my carryon and hold everything I needed on Safari. This turned out to be not a single bag, but a system.

The Tenba Axis Sling Bag was the base for my photo kit. It has a main compartment large enough to fit the 150-500mm lens with the Sony A7C attached, and additional pockets for my SD Cards, batteries, phone, and other photo supplies.

The Tenba also has a MOLLE web on the front. The MOLLE web allows you to attach nearly any MOLLE accessory. I chose two LensCoat Roll-Up MOLLE pouches, one big enough for the 70-180mm lens, and the other fitting my 25mm lens. These pouches have light padding, a drawstring top, an additional velcro dust flap, and a MOLLE strap to weave through the MOLLE webbing on the Tenba.

This setup worked incredibly well both on safari, and in my carryon bag. When the lenscoat pouches were open, they worked almost like cupholders. It was easy to drop lenses, sunglasses, or the iPhone into the pouches, even when the Tenba was over my shoulder. The bottom of the Tenba's main compartment made a good working surface for lining up two lenses upright for changing.

Dust Management

Driving around in an open Land Rover is a recipe for dust. A lens pen, microfiber cloths, and a sensor cleaner are must-haves on safari. Even though I was cautious about changing lenses, I did have to clean my sensor in a tent. There were days where I was absolutely caked with dust. Having a lens pen or other brush is a necessity so you can remove the bulk of the dirt and dust without having it embedded in a microfiber cloth where it might scratch a lens.

Packing Recommendations

Baggage Limits

Many of the luggage restrictions for travel in Kenya stem from the need to take internal flights on small Cessnas. The Safari Link fights we took limited each of us to one 30lb bag stowed in the belly of the plane, so our entire cargo fit into one carry-on sized bag weighing 30 pounds. Some of the folks traveling in our group brought so little that it fit in wheeled school backpacks.

However, this single bag seemed more of a guideline. Yes, the flight crew did weigh the bags. But I carried my camera sling bag aboard on every Safari Link flight, which sat on my lap.

Packing Tactics

Pack some smaller, lightweight luggage in your larger carry-on bag. In my case, about 1/3 of my big bag was filled by my camera sling (a Tenba AXIS V2 6L SLING BAG) with two LensCoat Roll Up MOLLE Pouches attached to the front. I also packed a Peak Design Packable Tote for more options. The entire bag weighed 28 lbs when full.

I traveled with three changes of clothes: 3 socks, three pants, three shirts, and three pairs of underwear (well, 4 actually, since they gave me a buffer and they are light). Some folks didn’t bother with the “safari” gear and wore shorts and polo shirts they found on the clearance page at Macy’s. I prefer the sun and bug protection of the specialized gear, but both approaches worked fine.

Some of our group left all their shirts and shorts with the employees at the final resort and had plenty of room for gifts on the way home.

Clothes and Gear I loved

Things I didn’t Need

I packed some quick-dry undershirts but only wore them one day. It was simply too hot to add a second layer of clothing. Next time, I’ll save the space. I also had a wider-angle lens for my camera, but I used it only a few times. The iPhone camera does well enough for wide-angle shots.

Electronics

Other notes

The organizer mailed custom luggage tags to the entire group. This was helpful when flying since the porters could easily spot the matching tags.

Insect Defense

I treated my outerwear (shirts, socks, pants, shoes) with Sawyer permethrin spray. Although I carried two bottles of repellant, I used it only once or twice. The Sawyer treatment worked amazingly well for us. In the future, I’d probably rely on the Sawyer and bring a smaller quantity of repellant.

Security

In Nairobi, security is much more visible than you normally see in the US and most of Europe. Each business has armed security, and hotels often have precautions like vehicle inspections, x-rays, and metal detectors.

Out on safari, the security is more oriented to wildlife (and, I should note, poachers). We were cautioned at every resort to "lock" our tents or rooms, and to store any food in designated monkey-proof containers. The "locks" were typically carabiners or clips. Monkeys will toss your luggage if you forget to secure your sleeping quarters.

Untitled

At night, we were asked to remain in our quarters and told not to walk outside without an escort. If you needed to leave the room or needed help, most places had handheld radios to summon assistance. One of the camps, which had no walls or natural barriers surrounding it, was patrolled at night by a gentleman with a slingshot.

Speaking of poachers, it's probably a terrible idea to bring any camouflage or military-looking gear to Kenya. You don't want to look like a poacher or mercenary.

Culture

In the cities, people don't like to have their photos taken, and it is a Bad Idea to take photos of any government or other important building.

On safari, the guides don't seem to mind having their photos taken.

As I mentioned earlier, while the resort staff will wash your shirts, socks, shorts, and trousers, they won't touch your underwear.

Language

In Kenya, most people speak English, but their preferred language varies. Many groups and tribes have their own language. On Safari, the guides mostly spoke Swahili on the radio.

Our last day in Kenya, we explored a bit of Nairobi, and returning to our hotel our car was stopped by an armed guard. The driver rolled down my window, and as the guard approached, I smiled and called out "Jambo!"

The guard smiled and asked, "Jambo? You know jambo?!"

"Yes," I replied, "I know a few words."

We chatted briefly and he waved us through.

Knowing a little Swahili is very useful for creating a favorable first impression, especially when security is involved. Greeting a stranger with "Jambo" will pleasantly surprise most locals. I got the distinct impression that many tourists (especially from a particular former colonial power) don't treat Kenyans as equals. Saying something, almost anything, in Swahili will earn you better and more interesting experiences.

Swahili English Approximation
Jambo hello
Asante thank you
Asante sana thank you very much
Tuende let's go
Kwaheri goodbye
Karibu welcome / you're welcome
Saua saua good

Safari Euphamisms

There are some important phrases you may need:

I need to check the tires: A polite euphamism for men needing a restroom break.

I need to smell the flowers: A polite euphamism for women needing a restroom break.

Hygiene

As I've mentioned, you don't want to drink the water or use it to brush your teeth.

While you're on safari, you may need to use the restroom. Since there aren't any restrooms out in the bush, you'll need to ask the driver to stop so you can "check the tires" or "smell the flowers." In either case, the driver will find a good place to park and inspect the area around the vehicle for safety before inviting you out. Typically, you'll find a private spot behind your Land Cruiser. If needed, the drivers usually have toilet paper. You're expected to have a brown bag for any waste (many of the resorts provide brown bags in the room).

Kenya 2023 Photos

Packing List

Clothes

Med bag

liquids bag

Electronics / Optics / Misc

Paperwork

TODO List

Note: This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you.

Untitled