Kenya Travel Safety Guide

Most of staying safe in Kenya is ordinary care in the right places, and knowing the handful of risks that are real. This guide covers those risks, how to manage them, and what to arrange for health and emergencies before you go.

Terrorism, stated plainly

Kenya has experienced terrorist attacks, most of them linked to Al Shabaab, an Al Qaida affiliated group based in Somalia. Past attacks have included a hotel and office complex in Nairobi in 2019 and a military airstrip in Lamu County in 2020.

What that means in practice is not avoidance but ordinary awareness in busy public places: hotels, restaurants, shopping centers, places of worship and large gatherings. Note the security arrangements where you stay. It is not a reason on its own to cancel a trip to Nairobi or the Mara.

The everyday risks, which are the likely ones

For most visitors the realistic concern is crime rather than terrorism: bags and phones taken in crowds and in stopped traffic, theft from rooms, and robbery after dark. Nairobi’s central business district and the areas around bus stations warrant more care at night than a European city would.

Carry what you need and leave the rest where it lives. Keep phones out of sight in traffic. Use ride hailing or a known driver after dark rather than walking. Demonstrations happen, are sometimes policed forcefully, and are to be avoided rather than observed. And road traffic, statistically, is the thing most likely to hurt you.