Around Kenya

Here is one reasonable and convenient car rental company that we often recommend to our web visitors. In Kenya, people drive on the left-hand side of the road and all vehicles in the country are right-hand driven. The public bus system and matatus privately owned minibuses are the cheapest and most popular mode of transportation in Kenya.

If you don't have your own vehicle or cannot afford to pay for a taxicab or rental car, then public transport is your best option. Kenya's public buses and matatus have a mass appeal for short and long distance travel in all cities and towns across Kenya.

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Buses are regarded as safer and follow the same route as matatus. However, while buses are often quiet and operate in a timely manner, matatus play loud music, have erratic schedules with frequent stops, and provide a more dramatic Kenyan public transportation experience. Buses and matatus offer convenient and express services between the major cities, suburbs and towns across Kenya.

Fare is paid onboard. Getting around Kenya can be a challenge for those who are not used to driving on the often crowded, sometimes rough, dusty or untarmacked roads. Kenyan roads throughout major cities are tarmacked and in good condition, although one is likely to find potholes on some roads and streets.

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The roads also tend to be narrow. While roads in main cities and towns are tarmacked, most roads in the remote areas, including the game parks, are plain terrain, all-weather roads. Often, some remote roads experience flooding that renders them impassable during the long rainy season. Go to Kenya Information Guide Home page. Need to know facts - visa information, tourist information and more. Kenya currency - how far will your money go in Kenya shillings? Kenya Blog Find out what's new. Kenya transport and travel - how do you move around? The new Syokimau train station offering daily service between Nairobi city and Syokimau.

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Plan your visit to Kenya. If you have a breakdown , before seeking assistance, it is customary to pile bundles of sticks or foliage 50m or so behind and in front of the car. Wedging a stone behind at least one wheel to stop the vehicle rolling away is also a good idea. You might consider joining AA Kenya , which offers temporary membership for up to six months for Ksh, which includes the usual breakdown and rescue services, where available.

A normal saloon sedan car is sufficient if you are driving around Nairobi, up and down the main coastal road or sticking to the major tarred highways between cities. Most car rental companies will not rent out non-4WD vehicles for use in the parks, and park rangers will often turn away such cars at the gates, especially in wet weather. Four-wheel drive Suzuki jeeps are the most widely available vehicles, but ensure you get a long-wheelbase model with rear seats, room for four people or five at a pinch and luggage space at the back.

These are more stable than the stumpy short-wheelbase versions. All three models are dependable, capable of great feats in negotiating rough terrain, and can nearly always be fixed by a local repair workshop. Beware, however, of their notorious tendency to tip over on bends or on the dangerously sloping gravel hard shoulders that line so many roads. You might also take a spare fan belt and brake fluid. When you get a flat tyre , as you will, get it mended straight away: Local mechanics are usually very good and can apply ingenuity to the most disastrous situations.

But spare parts, tools and proper equipment are rare off the main routes. Always settle on a price before work begins. The vast majority of petrol stations charge similar prices at the lower end of the range. There is occasionally a choice of regular or premium, but the latter is the norm. Diesel is ten to fifteen percent cheaper.

When filling, which is always done by an attendant, check the pump is set to zero. However in Nairobi, and increasingly at big highway petrol stations, there are ATMs if you need to get cash. You can drive in Kenya with either a valid driving licence from your home country, or an international one. Be cautious of abrupt changes in road surface. Caused by heavy trucks ploughing over hot blacktop, these can be deep and treacherous, making steering difficult. Beware of animals, people, rocks, branches, ditches and potholes — any combination of which may appear at any time.

It is accepted practice to honk your horn stridently to warn pedestrians and cyclists. Other vehicles are probably the biggest menace, especially in busy areas close to towns where matatus are constantly pulling over to drop and pick up passengers. Try to avoid driving at night , and be extra careful when passing heavy vehicles — the diesel fumes can cut off your visibility without warning.

Officially Kenya drives on the left , though in reality vehicles keep to the best part of the road until they have to pass each other. You should recognize the supplementary meanings of left and right signals particularly common among truck drivers. Do not, however, automatically assume the driver can really see that it is safe for you to pass. In fact, never assume anything about other drivers.

Beware of speed bumps , found wherever a busy road has been built through a village, and on the roads in and out of nearly every town. There is no concept of yielding or giving way in Kenya: Finding somewhere to park is rarely a problem, even in Nairobi or Mombasa. There are council traffic wardens in most large towns from Monday to Saturday, from whom you can buy a hour ticket the only option for Ksh50— Be careful not to inadvertently park on yellow lines, which are often faded to near-invisibility.

Although there are few parts of Kenya where 4WD vehicles are mandatory, you would be well advised not to go far off tarmac in a two-wheel-drive vehicle.

A short cloudburst can transform an otherwise good dirt road into a soft-mud vehicle trap, and even unsurfaced entrance roads and access tracks can become quagmires in the wet. Take local advice if attempting unsurfaced roads in the rainy season, when mud pits with a smooth and apparently firm surface can disguise deep traps. A covering of vegetation usually means a relatively solid surface. If you have to go through a large muddy puddle, first kick off your shoes and wade the entire length to check it out better to get muddy than bogged down.

For smaller puddles, gathering up speed on the approach and then charging across in second gear usually works.

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Drive as fast as you dare, never over-steer when skidding, and pray. Try to keep at least one wheel on vegetation-covered ground or in a well-defined rut. If you do get stuck , stop immediately, as spinning the wheels will only make it worse. Try reversing, just once, by revving the engine as far as you can before engaging reverse gear. Safety should be your first concern when travelling by public transport: This is especially important on dirt roads when the combination of dust, a slow, bumpy ride and fierce sun through closed windows can be unbearable.

Fares go up and down depending on the price of fuel, and rarely does anyone attempt to charge more than the approved rate. Buses cover almost the whole country. Some, on the main runs between Nairobi and Mombasa, and to a lesser extent the centre and west, are fast, comfortable and keep to schedules; you generally need to reserve seats in advance. Matatus can be an enjoyable way of getting about, giving you close contact, literally, with local people, and some hilarious encounters.

They are also often the most convenient and sometimes the only means of transport to smaller places off the main roads. Beware of being used as bait by the driver to encourage passengers to choose his vehicle, and equally of a driver filling his car with young touts pretending to be passengers spot them by the newspapers and lack of luggage. The sum will normally be equivalent to the amount they would receive from all the passengers in a full vehicle over the same distance.

Transport in towns often comes down to private taxis. The overnight Nairobi—Mombasa train ran twice a week in each direction at the time of writing, departing Nairobi Mon and Fri at 7pm, and scheduled to arrive in Mombasa around 10am; leaving Mombasa Tues and Sun at 7pm, it is scheduled to arrive in Nairobi around 10am. While this timetable indicates the journey takes around thirteen hours, in reality it usually takes at least up to seventeen hours, and on occasion, the train can pull in anything up to eight hours late.

Do not plan any tight connections at either end. The delays are in fact not necessarily caused by the passenger train itself, but by freight trains holding it up on the line. Frustrating as the almost routine delays are, they at least mean you are likely to have a few hours of daylight to watch the passing scene: Construction of the original line began in Mombasa in and the railway reached Nairobi in For that reason those who want to experience the Nairobi—Mombasa sleeper service will need to do it soon. There used to be a sporadic overnight Nairobi—Kisumu service, though this has not been operational since In the future, however, the new Chinese-built railway is expected to extend from Nairobi to Malaba on the Ugandan border and eventually all the way to Kigali in Rwanda.

The present Nairobi—Mombasa train has three seat classes , but only first and second offer any kind of comfort. The trains are old, the carriages and compartments are far from luxurious, and the toilets are not all European-style, but they begin the journey freshly cleaned, and in a reasonably good state of repair.

The linen is always clean, washing water usually flows from the compartment basins, meals are freshly prepared and service is good. On the Mombasa train, dinner is served in two sittings 7. Breakfast is served from 6am.