Hi, I need some info!
My 17 year old son just told me his church group is planning a trip to Kenya in March. He went with a large group to Peru last summer ( the church is building an orphange there) BUT the Kenya trip sounds like an exploratory trip to set up relationships, etc (i.e. no established connections there). I have major concerns in light of travel warnings for the area. Has anyone been recently or have any information to share? Thanks!

I have heard of extremely rare instances of safari groups being held up and robbed but the government relies on them for foreign currency so quickly stamps on such things. Is anywhere really safe nowadays with fanatics bombing trains and such as well as gun and knife crime? I think this trip will broaden your son's horizons and give him a new insight into the world around him. He would certainly resent missing this trip and I couldn't blame him. Give him all the warnings you think necessary as well as all the pills and inoculations but do let him go.

There more or less has been a continuous travel arert for the last 10 plus years. I feel very safe in Africa and have been twice in the last 3 years. I am planning another trip for Christmas 09!

I would just be careful wandering around Nairobi especially at night.Otherwise I think its as safe as any us city from terrorist attacks.RR

Thanks for the info and imput guys! The trip is still in the planning stages, so hopefully I'll feel better once I have all of the details in hand!

Jody

Here is the link to the current US State Department Travel Warning for Kenya.

Bill

And here's the one from the British Foreign Office.

I looked through both warnings. A version similar to this has been posted for the last nearly decade since the terorist bombing in Nairobi. I would not walk around alone at night in Nairobi, but otherwise feel very comfortable in Africa. I would say its no more dangerous than any major US city. RR

My daughter traveled to Kenya last year and stayed for a few weeks with a friend from college in her friends family home in Nairobi. I was glad she did not tell me until she returned how dangerous Nairobi was. My daughter travels alot (in fact, she's teaching and living in China right now) but from her accounts because of the poverty many of the people in Nairobi felt driven to behave poorly. Her friends family lived in a gated neighborhood in Nairobi for safety. She said their house was a simple ranch house and the bedroom doors had deadbolt locks in case someone broke into the house, they wouldn't be able to get into the bedrooms. Each of the women in the family had had their purse stolen at one time. My daughter was told not to take her camera or purse with her when they went into the city, just to put her money in her pocket. It was her friend and family who were all natives, not tourists, and they were the ones cautioning her.

That said, she loved her visit to Kenya and would return but she did feel that she had to be more cautious there then anywhere else.