The price for this journey is $9999 USD per person (double occupancy).

A $2000 non-refundable deposit holds your space.  The second installment of $4000 is due by May 1, 2022, and the balance is due by July 1, 2022.  We will email you an invoice (via PayPal) about a week before each due date. 

If you prefer to have your own room, the single supplement is $1499 USD and will be added to your last payment. (Click here to understand why this single supplement is necessary). We are happy to say we have partially subsidized this single supplement for you! Please note that we cannot guarantee you a roommate for this trip, and if you room alone, you will be responsible for the single supplement.

Price Includes:

• All transportation within Kenya, including VVIP airport pickup and drop-off (yes, two “V”s!)
• All lodging starting the night of September 25th through October 5th
• Extra luggage allowance on all internal flights (additional 17 lbs, bringing total to 50 lb allowance total)
• All meals, starting with breakfast on September 26th and ending with lunch on October 6th
• All water, on safari and at meals
• All alcoholic beverages (beer, wine, house cocktails)
• All safaris in a private 4×4 Land Cruiser (only 4 to 5 guests per vehicle)
• All National Park entrance fees ($700 USD per person)
• All tips to guides, hotels, and restaurants
• All laundry
• Online photo album after the trip
• Triple carbon-offsetting for your time in Kenya
• Sundowner experience
• Personal SIM card with data for your use

Price does not include:

• International airfare (although will be more than happy to help you decide on arrangements!)
• Dinner on September 25th
• Kenya visa (~$51 USD) or East African Visa if you are adding the Rwanda extension (~$100 USD)
• Travel insurance (required)
• Optional Hot Air Balloon ride in the Masai Mara ($470 USD for 2021; we’ll update you when we get 2022 prices)

We accept payments via check and credit or debit card (via PayPal). For our guests outside the U.S., please write Lauren@RetreaTours.com for the best transfer details, to save you from PayPal’s 2.5 to 4.5% currency conversion fee.

• Paying by Check: Checks can be made out to RetreaTours and sent to 8821 NW 14 Street, Pembroke Pines, FL 33024.
• Paying by Credit Card, Debit Card, or PayPal balance: You can pay the balance with credit card, debit card, or PayPal balance through the button below. Note that you do not have to pay with your PayPal balance; please click here if you’d like further instruction.

We will email you an invoice (via PayPal) about a week before each due date.

We do everything in our power to do right by our guests. We are proud to say that in the wake of our COVID-related trip cancellations through 2020 and 2021, we were able to offer each of our guests the choice of a 100% credit, if not a full refund.

We’ve re-examined each trip and done our best to reduce the deposit amounts as much as possible. Upon your registration, your deposit immediately goes toward reserving your space for flights, hotels, and excursions that must be booked months in advance and are often non-refundable (particularly in Kenya and Rwanda).

Cancellation by our guests

The cancellation charges are as follows unless otherwise indicated on the detailed itinerary for each trip. All cancellations must be received via e-mail or US mail.

• Cancellations prior to 120 days to departure, money will be refunded minus the non-refundable deposit.
• Cancellations received 61 to 119 days prior to departure are subject to a penalty of 50% of the total cost of the trip.
• Cancellations received 60 days or fewer prior to trip departure will forfeit the entire cost of the trip.

If a trip is cancelled by RetreaTours

When a tour is cancelled in the case of force majeure, the Tour Participant will receive a refund minus any funds that we are unable to recover from any supplier.

You can see the full cancellation policy in our contract here. 

Please click here to go to complete this journey’s registration form. You will be asked for your passport expiration date; if you will need to renew your passport before this trip, simply fill in your old information and update us when you receive your new passport.

At the end of the form, please press “submit” to finalize your answers. Your spot is not considered reserved until you have completed these questions and submitted your deposit. 

Please click here to download to view and download a PDF of the contract for your records. 

We know these two topics are important! Do you know how we know? We see your Facebook page and this is what all your friends ask you while you are on safari with us!  Here’s the scoop:

Temperature

Yes, you’re in Africa. Yes, you’re near the equator. But, YES, it can still be chilly! Bank on chilly mornings and evenings (as in 50°F chilly, possibly in places). This is due to weather patterns and altitude (we’ll range from 2500 feet in Samburu to 6000 feet in Nairobi).

It will also get warm during the heat of the day (85°F+). This means layers, layers, layers. Feel free to bring light t-shirts or even tank tops and shorts for warm afternoons back at the hotels and camps, but please do bring long pants and a sweater or jacket (especially if you plan on doing the optional hot air balloon ride).

Bugs

You may have a vision of tons of insects and mosquitos invading your space on a safari. It just ain’t so!

We will be visiting Kenya during the dry season and mosquitos and creepy crawlies, in general, aren’t a big concern. We asked our September 2021 guests in our post-trip survey about the number of mosquitos they saw on tour; 8 guests said “zero,” one guest said “1,” and one eagle-eyed guest said “5.”  My favorite quote was “I saw NO bugs except a grasshopper and a funny rhinoceros beetle.” My personal count was 2; BJ traveled around Kenya for 7 weeks and his total was 7.

Malaria is still endemic in Kenya and you should have that conversation about antimalarials with your travel doctor (please see the “vaccine” part of our FAQ below for more information about that).

We say this not to lessen any of your precautions against malaria or yellow fever—we’re big fans of being well-prepared and taken care of. This is to give you a bit of perspective about what the actual situation is on the ground.

Please do bring personal insect repellent, please do wear it and/or long-sleeves and pants at night, and certainly, feel free to use any mosquito nets around your bedding (available at some camps). But please don’t let fear of bugs put you off a Kenyan safari!

• Passport and Visa information
• Food
• Health & Vaccines, Altitude, Travel Insurance
• Money & How to Get Local Currency
• Communication / Internet Connectivity

PASSPORT/VISA

• What do I need to know about the visa?    

First and foremost, your passport MUST be valid at least 6 months beyond the end date of the trip, and you’ll need two empty pages in the Visas section of your passport (make sure they are in the Visa section, not the Amendment or Endorsement section). 

We’ll give you further visa instructions along with the orientation before the journey. The Kenya visa is $51 USD and for those that are extending their journey to Rwanda, you can receive an East African visa for $100 USD.

FOOD

• Can my dietary needs be accommodated?

Absolutely, we’ll let the camps know about your needs before our arrival. Please indicate any special requests & allergies on the registration form. Please note that some breakfasts & lunches will be boxed meals that we will take to enjoy on safari, but dinners will always be at our hotels.

• Should I bring snacks?

So glad you asked–yes! Snacks like nuts, protein bars, or other favorites are a nice thing to have on hand during long days on safari.

• Can I drink the tap water?

In a word, No. Although many cities around the world are getting more advanced public water systems, we don’t recommend it.  Not only from a pathogen standpoint, but it’s a different set of bacteria than your body is used to. Why risk an upset stomach if you don’t have to? We recommend drinking only bottled water, and you will want to rinse your toothbrush off in bottled water. If you’d like to bring a reusable bottle and a means of sterilization to save on plastic water bottle consumption, you are more than welcome. Otherwise, we will have access to filtered water at all times.

HEALTH & VACCINES

• What vaccines do I need?

RetreaTours requires proof of a COVID-19 vaccine and booster for this trip.

No vaccines are required to enter Kenya, but this is one destination where we highly encourage you to work with your local travel clinic or the travel department of your local health department (often a much cheaper option).

Please see the CDC’s general advice for Kenya:  https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/traveler/none/kenya

Please see the NHS’s general advice for Kenya: https://www.fitfortravel.nhs.uk/destinations/africa/kenya

As you can see in the CDC’s map below, the Yellow Fever vaccine is recommended for Kenya.

• What about malaria?

As you can see on the CDC’s malaria map below, malaria is endemic throughout Kenya and preventatives are recommended. Please work with your travel physician for the prophylactic best for you.

• Do I need travel insurance?

Travel insurance is required on this trip; please see the separate “Travel Insurance” toggle on this page.

MONEY

• How much money should I bring?

All of your meals and transportation are covered, so you just have to gauge how much you want to spend on extras. After registration we’ll let you know how much some of the optional activities cost, as well as tips to the guide that are not included.

• How do I get the local currency?

You can either exchange cash in Kenya or use a local ATMs upon arrival in Nairobi (although exchanging money will be easier). Just make sure you call your bank and credit card company to let them know you’ll be traveling in Kenya so they don’t put a hold on your card when they see it being used halfway across the world.

HOTELS

• What kind of hotels will we be staying at?

Please see the separate “About our Accommodations” toggle on this page.

• What kind of plugs do they use in Kenya?

Yes, just be sure to bring along a Universal Travel Adaptor that can go with you anywhere in the world!  If you plan on using your phone as a camera on safari, we also highly recommend bringing a portable battery charger such as this one.

COMMUNICATION

• How can my family get ahold of me in an emergency?

Before the trip begins we will give you the contact information for our guide and our partner travel office in Nairobi; in addition, we will give you an American number good for text messages and voicemails. An international phone plan will work in many places on our trip, but please check with your cell provider. If you have an unlocked cell phone, we will provide you with a local Kenyan SIM card on arrival.

• About the Wifi

You will have wifi at most of our camps and all of our hotels in Nairobi, but it can be a very weak signal out in the bush. Cell phone signals (and data) are relatively consistent with a local SIM card at our camps, but we cannot promise constant connectivity.

RetreaTours is Climate Positive!

We purchase triple carbon offsets for your travels with us—that’s from your home, through the entire tour, and back to your home again, times three! 

RetreaTours is officially a Carbonfree® Partner with Carbonfund.org, as well as a partner with Cool Effect.

You may have heard the term “carbon neutral,” which means that a company offsets as much carbon as it produces. With this 300% offset, RetreaTours is actually offsetting more carbon than we produce each year, making us “carbon negative” (or “climate positive,” which has a nicer ring to it!)

Since 2012 we’ve focused on making travel safe and easy for our guests; with our triple carbon offset tours, we’re pleased to make our trips as sustainable as they are memorable.

Please see more at RetreaTours.com/CarbonNegative

During our time together in Kenya, we’ll be staying at a mix of hotels, lodges, and luxury tent camps (true “glamping!”).  The camps are stylish and comfortable and each tent has its own bathroom with running hot water and shower. If you’d like to see our accommodations, please see the links below!

• September 25-26, Nairobi: Tamarind Tree Hotel
• September 27-28, Amboseli: Ol Tukai Lodge
• September 29-30, Samburu: Ashnil Samburu Camp
• October 1-2, Ol Pejeta Conservancy: Sweetwaters Serena Camp
• October 3-5, Masai Mara: Ashnil Mara Camp

 Safaris are not physically strenuous, but they do require a decent amount of time sitting in a vehicle.

We cut down on driving with this itinerary by flying, but we will have two drives between destinations (3 hours to Ol Pejeta and 5-6 hours between Masai Mara and Nairobi).

Our morning game drives can be up to 5 hours at a stretch (afternoon game drives about 3 hours), but we will also have time to stretch our legs for our boxed breakfasts and “bush” toilet stops. The roofs on our Land Cruisers pop open so you can stand in the vehicle, as well!

We have personally provided stepstools to get into the vehicles and even portable folding toilet seats to make bush stops more comfortable for you. 

If you are traveling with RetreaTours, we require that each guest carries travel insurance that covers emergency medical treatment and emergency evacuation and repatriation. 

We suggest trip cancellation insurance, as well, as you never know what obstacles life can toss at you leading up to a trip. However, we do not require this coverage, we only suggest it highly.

Below you will find some options to look into, if this is a new world to you. However, we ask that you carefully consider your choice in travel insurance. What works for some people may not work for others, particularly if you have any pre-existing conditions. Please do take the time to consider the best policy for your individual needs.

World Nomads provides medical coverage for guests under 70 that includes trip cancellation, as well. You can use the box on this page to get a quote and see coverage.

InsureMyTrip.com is a good place to see and compare many policies at once, and you can refine the options by what coverage you would like.

It may also be a good idea to check with your credit card companies, especially American Express, to see if they offer any medical coverage for travel.

We are more than happy to recommend international flights, but ultimately you will make the purchase yourself. Here is some important information if you would like to research flights yourself:

When must I arrive in Nairobi / where will I stay?

Because many flights arrive late at night, we are not including dinner on the 25th. We advise arriving before midnight on the 25th at the very latest. You may wish to arrive early to account for any flight delays or cancellations or weather incidents at your departure airport.

If you wish to arrive early, we can help you with hotel reservations.

What time should I book my departing flight from Nairobi?

The trip is technically finished after lunch on October 6th, and most flights leave in the late afternoon and evening. If possible, your flight departure time should be after 6 PM on October 6th.

What if I am continuing on to Rwanda? 

Please let BJ help you if you are planning an extension to see the mountain gorillas in Rwanda. Often a flight into Kenya and out of Rwanda is very affordable and much easier for you.

The historic temperatures in Kenya and our safari destinations will range between 50°F and 85°F+  (12°C and 30°C). This will mean chilly evenings and early mornings to pleasantly warm afternoons.

We’ll provide a packing list well before the journey!  Please note that we highly suggest soft-sided luggage in order to fit inside the safari vehicles.

This journey includes an upgraded luggage allowance for our flights. Typically guests are limited to 33 lbs, but we have increased that amount to 50 lbs total. 

Please write Lauren@RetreaTours.com for any questions you may have about this journey.  If you have not received a reply within 48 hours, please do check your spam folder.

You’ll be joined on this journey by BJ & Lauren, owners of RetreaTours–and we are so excited to show you the natural beauty of Kenya! 

BJ & Lauren created RetreaTours in 2010 with one goal in mind: to make world travel accessible, authentic, and astounding. In order to focus fully on this passion, they moved out of the U.S. in January 2013 to reside full-time overseas. Each day is spent exploring new destinations, strengthening local ties & relationships, and creating memorable, transformative, one-of-a-kind retreats and tours (aka, RetreaTours™!)

BJ & Lauren take great pride in the itineraries they plan, as they can personally vouch for every hotel, every restaurant, and every activity that you will experience. They craft each element of the trip with intention and exacting attention to detail. Fueled by their passion, armed with know-how, and supported by knowledgeable local professionals in all of their destinations, BJ & Lauren set the scene for the vacation of a lifetime. (You can read some of our testimonials here!)

As one of their most ‘frequent fliers’ puts it, BJ & Lauren make everything easy for you. Once you arrive in your destination city, your trip is all-inclusive—your meals, transportation, lodging, site fees, donations, and tips are all taken care of.  The research has been done, the itinerary carefully laid out, the reservations made, the t’s crossed and the i’s dotted. All you have to do is show up and take in all your destination has to show you!  So….let’s get going!