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Travel and Tourism in Kenya
Travel alerts, currency, climate, transit, health, and safety information for visitors to Kenya.
Practical Information
Travel alert status, currency, climate, and transit details.
- Travel Alert Status
- Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution
- Time Difference
- UTC+3 (8 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)
- Currency
- Kenyan shilling (KES)
- Climate
- Nairobi has four seasons, but overall temperature changes are moderate. Mid‑ December through March are mainly sunny and warm by day, cool at night, and generally dry. April and May constitute the principal rainy season with lower day temperatures. The months of June through September are mainly dry, but often cloudy and cool, with cool nights. October and November make up the short rainy season, with long sunny periods, warm days, and cool nights. Average annual rainfall in Nairobi is about 39 inches, but the actual amount varies widely in any year.
- Language(s) Spoken
- English (official), Kiswahili (official), numerous indigenous languages
- Ethnic Groups
- Kikuyu 17.1%, Luhya 14.3%, Kalenjin 13.4%, Luo 10.7%, Kamba 9.8%, Somali 5.8%, Kisii 5.7%, Mijikenda 5.2%, Meru 4.2%, Maasai 2.5%, Turkana 2.1%, non-Kenyan 1%, other 8.2%
- National Holiday
- Jamhuri Day (Independence Day), 12 December (1963); note - Madaraka Day, 1 June (1963) marks the day Kenya attained internal self-rule
- Geographic Coordinates
- 1 00 N, 38 00 E
- Location
- Eastern Africa, bordering the Indian Ocean, between Somalia and Tanzania
- Airports
- 221
Destinations
Regions and cities, top sights, national parks, UNESCO sites, and festivals for visitors.
Regions and Cities
Things to See and Do
Kenya's range of activities and attractions extends far beyond the wildlife safari, though game viewing understandably dominates the bucket list for most first-time visitors. The country offers mountain trekking, ocean diving and snorkeling, kitesurfing and windsurfing, rock climbing, whitewater rafting, hot air ballooning over the savanna, camel trekking in the north, cultural homestays with traditional communities, birdwatching tours of extraordinary richness, and urban experiences in Nairobi's art, music, food, and nightlife scenes that match or exceed those of many global capitals.
Trekking Mount Kenya is among the most spectacular mountaineering experiences in Africa. The mountain offers several established routes of varying difficulty. The Sirimon Route, ascending from the northwest, is considered the most scenic and is popular for its gentler gradients and diverse wildlife encounters, including encounters with buffalo, elephants, and bongo antelope in the forest zones. The Naro Moru Route on the western face is the most direct but involves a grueling section of altitude moorland.
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Health and Safety
Medical facilities, vaccinations, disease risk, and sanitation conditions.
Adequate medical services are available in Nairobi. Frequent outbreaks of cholera and malaria are endemic in Kenya outside Nairobi. In addition, diseases such as Ebola, Rift Valley Fever, and anthrax from handling sheep skins occur periodically. Travelers, who become ill with a fever or flu-like illness while traveling in a malaria-risk area, and up to one year after returning home, should seek prompt medical attention and tell the physician their travel history and what anti-malarial drugs they have been taking.
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