Kenya is an incredibly fascinating country. Primarily, of course, it draws travelers with its wild nature and animals. However, looking at the cost of safari tours, one might immediately get the impression that a trip to Kenya is impossible without very deep pockets. I’m here to tell you — that’s not true.
We spent 18 days in Kenya. We visited three national parks: Masai Mara, Naivasha, and Amboseli, spent a few days exploring Nairobi, and enjoyed a week by the sea in Diani. This article outlines my travel itinerary.
Navigation:
Day 1. Nairobi: Where to Stay, How to Get Around, and What to See
All travelers enter the country through the airport located in Kenya’s capital — Nairobi.
You should look for tickets to Kenya on trip.com. As a side note: when searching, try switching the language — the price can change by several dozen dollars per person.
Yes, at first glance, Nairobi might not seem like the most pleasant city — it’s noisy, dusty, and being a “mzungu” (white person) on the streets attracts attention. Beggars might sometimes grab your arm and ask for food. But if you overlook these small things, it’s quite vibrant. Besides exploring the city on the first day, we bought UK-style power adapters (since Kenya uses Type G plugs) for 100 KES and immediately bought malaria tests and tablets. We actually ended up needing the tests later, but fortunately, it was just severe acclimatization upon returning home, not malaria (the tests and pills for three people cost 6500 KES).
We arrived in Nairobi at night, so we bought a SIM card at the airport and ordered a taxi to our hotel.
SIM Card at the Airport
There are two main mobile operators in Kenya — KenCell and Safaricom. The airport sells SIMs from both. The first is slightly cheaper, so we went with that. However, Kenya widely uses **M-PESA** (mobile money), and to use this service, you must have a Safaricom SIM. We frequently had to ask our apartment hosts to buy things like train tickets for us because it’s only possible via M-PESA.
SIM card cost: 200 KES + we paid 1500 KES for 15GB of data.
Taxi
Two main ride-hailing apps are popular in Nairobi — Uber and Bolt. People say one is cheaper than the other. I downloaded both and compared prices before every ride. Sometimes the difference was up to 50%, but it varied which one was cheaper at any given time.
Taxis in Nairobi are super cheap, and sometimes a taxi ride cost about the same as a matatu. So, we either walked when we wanted to soak up the local vibe or took a taxi.
Taxi from the airport to the city center at night: 1000 KES
Taxi from the city center to Village Market: 260 KES
Hotels
We visited Nairobi three times and stayed in different budget hotels each time. My favorite was the **Chester Hotel and Suites Nairobi**.
It’s located close enough to the city center but in a safe area. Within 5 minutes of the hotel, you’ll find embassies, the President’s House, the UN center, and other governmental and international organizations. We booked an apartment with a huge bedroom; they added an extra bed for our child in the living room. Best of all was the balcony with a stunning view of the city. We could sit there at night with a glass of wine, looking at the stars, the city lights, and watching the world go by.
Currency Exchange
You can and should change money at the airport, but it’s better to change only a small amount. In January 2025, the rate at the airport was 12,800 KES for 100 EUR, with no commissions. However, the rate in the city center is better — there, we got 13,500 KES for 100 EUR.
Naivasha: Safari by Bike, on Foot, and by Boat
After spending a night and half a day exploring Nairobi, we headed to Naivasha around lunchtime.
Matatu ticket from Nairobi to Naivasha: 500 KES
I won’t go into too much detail about Naivasha here since I have a huge, detailed article on it.
Naivasha is a small town located a 2-hour matatu ride from Nairobi. A taxi would certainly be faster, but keep in mind that Nairobi traffic can be brutal.
There are two main attractions in Naivasha: the lake, home to hippos, and Hell’s Gate National Park. Many reviews suggest skipping Naivasha, saying it’s not the most interesting place. But our family loved it. We stayed in Naivasha for 4 days and 3 nights.
Day 1: We arrived after lunch. It was our first day in Kenya. We bought groceries at a supermarket and went to the hotel to rest.
Day 2: Took a boat trip on the lake, walked around Naivasha, bought hats and fruit, swam in the hotel pool, and acclimatized.
Day 3: Checked into Fisherman’s Camp, then went cycling in Hell’s Gate.
Day 4: Transfer to Masai Mara.
Honestly, you can skip the boat trip on the lake.
One-hour boat trip: 5000 KES
It’s a pleasant enough ride where you can see many birds and hippo nostrils (they sleep during the day, so only their nostrils stick out). But! You absolutely must stay in a hotel or camp located right on the lakeshore. Near sunset, the hippos come out of the water, and you can watch them in the wild from just an arm’s length away.
Lakeside hotels are quite expensive, so we chose to stay in a tent at Fisherman’s Camp. This is one of the most beautiful places in Kenya for me, especially in the evenings when you’re sitting in the restaurant, tired after a bike safari, and hippos start emerging from the lake.
Tent rental at the camp: 4000 KES
Dinner at the camp: 4000 KES
Breakfast at the camp: 4000 KES
We also really enjoyed the bike safari in Hell’s Gate. In other parks, you aren’t allowed to leave your vehicle, but here you can spend the whole day cycling through the national park, occasionally spotting a giraffe right on the road, very close by.
Masai Mara: How to Get There Independently and Organize a Safari
Of course, there is a huge separate article about Masai Mara, covering how to get there, budget hotels, and organizing a Game Drive.
The trip from Naivasha to Masai Mara by public transport takes almost the whole day.
First, you need to reach Narok. Travel time: 2.5 hours, minivan cost: 700 KES.
Narok is a large town. Near the bus station, there’s a huge hypermarket, a Papa John’s, and a liquor store.
From Narok to Talek is another 2 hours, minivan cost: 800 KES.
Day 4: We checked into Greenwood Camp late in the afternoon. Walked to the river to see hippos and baboons. After dark, hyenas arrived; the camp owner showed them to us. At 8 PM, a Maasai performance begins at the camp with songs and dances, followed by a campfire and heart-to-heart talks with the Maasai.
Day 5: **Game Drive**. Departed camp at 5:45 AM, returned at 6 PM. We were exhausted but extremely happy. We saw lions eating an elephant and hyenas finishing off a hippo. Since it’s so early, the hotel packs your breakfast to go. There was plenty of food, and given the heat, some of it served as lunch as well.
Full-day safari cost: $160. Additionally, entrance fees for an adult (Jan-June) are $100.
Day 6: Departure from Talek to Amboseli.
Amboseli: A House with a Kilimanjaro View and Motorbike Safari
We weren’t sure if we could make it from Masai Mara to Amboseli in one day, so we didn’t book a hotel in advance. The plan was to reach Nairobi and then decide whether to stay there or push on to Amboseli. In the end, the road to Nairobi took all day, and we stayed there overnight, which I was actually quite glad about.
Departure from Talek to Narok at 10 AM, travel time: 2 hours, ticket cost: 800 KES.
In Narok, we spent some time and 1300 KES on a pizza combo at Papa John’s.
At 2 PM, we left Narok for Nairobi, travel time: 4 hours. There was heavy traffic both in and approaching Nairobi, which is why it took so long.
We arrived in Nairobi at 6 PM and decided to stay the night.
It is generally not a good idea to travel between cities in Kenya after dark.
The next morning, we walked around Nairobi a bit and then headed to Amboseli. As usual, we chose a matatu, which was a mistake.
There is a train from Nairobi towards Mombasa. It runs strictly on schedule, without delays or traffic. But tickets must be bought in advance as they sell out fast.
Matatu ticket from Nairobi to Emali: 700 KES.
Matatus depart from Nairobi from here.
To get from Nairobi to Amboseli, you first need to reach Emali. You can do this quickly by train (1.5 hours) or slowly by matatu. Matatus to Emali are quite infrequent; we waited about 2.5 hours for it to fill with 14 passengers before leaving.
From Emali, you switch to another matatu to Kimana. I chose the house closest to Kilimanjaro, so from Kimana, we took a 15-minute motorbike ride to our place — Amboseli Glass House.
Our house deserves its own article and heaps of praise. It’s huge, beautiful, and most importantly, has a view of Kilimanjaro. It’s designed for 3 families, but we had the whole place to ourselves. And it costs less than a budget hotel in Nairobi! It was a very unique experience for me. The house is quite far from any villages; there are no shops or cafes nearby. But you can order food from the owner, who lives next door. We swam in the pool with a view of Kilimanjaro, played billiards on the porch with a view of Kilimanjaro, and showered in a bathroom with a window overlooking… yes, you guessed it, Kilimanjaro. We didn’t love the game drive, but we absolutely loved the house.
Day 7: Arrived late afternoon, had some wine, and went to bed.
Day 8: Spent half the day on safari ($180), and the other half at the house, swimming and enjoying the Kilimanjaro view.
Day 9: Transfer to Diani Beach.
Safari in Amboseli
As I’ve said repeatedly, we loved Amboseli because of the house and the mountain view, but the safari was just “okay.” Perhaps after Naivasha and Masai Mara, it’s hard to be surprised. Amboseli is famous for its elephants, which live there in huge numbers. But we had seen plenty of elephants in Masai Mara too. I was hoping to see big cats again, but as the guide explained, they are quite rare here. Also, unlike in Masai Mara, drivers here are not allowed to go off-road, which reduces the chance of seeing a lion to almost zero.
But!
I strongly recommend going on a “safari” in Amboseli not by entering the national park (paying $180 for the car plus $60 per person entry), but by hiring local motorbike (piki-piki) taxis for just **3000 KES**. They don’t go inside the park, of course, but they drive around the perimeter. There are plenty of animals right along the main roads.
Video About Our Budget Trip to Kenya
Diani Beach: Kenya’s Best Beach and How to Get There
For our beach holiday, we stayed in Kenya, specifically at Diani Beach. Many travelers try to fly to Tanzania after a Kenyan safari, but we decided against it because flying between the two countries requires a Yellow Fever vaccination. We didn’t have the shot and didn’t want to get it, especially since there hasn’t been yellow fever in the area for a decade.
The best way to get from Nairobi to Diani Beach is to take the train to Mombasa and then a taxi to Diani.
We didn’t manage to get train tickets, so we had to take the bus. It’s a long journey — about 9 hours — because the Nairobi-Mombasa highway is congested and quite dangerous. On one hand, animals cross the road (we saw elephants); on the other, local driving standards are… let’s say, flexible. During our short trip, we saw three overturned trucks on the shoulder and several head-on collisions.
The bus arrives in the center of Mombasa, quite close to the ferry crossing. We simply ordered a tuk-tuk on Uber and for **1800 KES**, we were in Diani Beach.
Diani is a small town, but I didn’t expect so many activities. We went snorkeling in a spot with hundreds of bright red starfish, hugged zebras, fed giraffes, and lived in the jungle with cute bush babies.
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