When to go to Kenya, honestly
· 1 min read
The dry months are not automatically the right months. What each season is actually like on the ground.
Ask when to visit Kenya and you will be told June to October, because that is the dry season and dry is easier. It is a fair default and it is not the whole answer. Here is what each stretch of the year is actually like.
June to October
Grass is short, water is scarce, and animals gather at what is left of it, so sightings are easy and the roads are firm. This is also when everyone else comes. Book the camps six to eight months out or take what is left.
November to December
The short rains, which usually means an hour of afternoon downpour rather than a washed-out day. Fewer vehicles, green country, and the migratory birds arrive. If your photographs matter more than your itinerary, this is the quiet bargain of the year.
January to March
Hot, dry and bright. Calving season on the southern plains, which brings the predators in close. Comfortable for game drives, hard work for long walks.
April and May
The long rains. Some camps close, some tracks turn to soup, and the country is at its most beautiful with nobody in it. We run trips through it, but we say plainly what you are buying: fewer certainties, lower prices, and green in every direction.
The part nobody says
Weather is the smaller half of the decision. What you actually want to see moves through the year, and it does not always agree with the rainfall. Tell us the month you can travel and we will tell you what it is good for rather than talk you into a different one — that is what the enquiry form is for.
