Travel essentials. Updated November 2026. 7 min read.
Tell us your dates and what you care about. A specialist sends you a plan and an itemised price within two business days. You pay in full or monthly, with no deposit, we book everything, and you have one team to call from the day you enquire to the day you land back home.
That is the whole process. The rest of this page explains each step, the money, what happens if you cancel or we do, and who you talk to. It follows our Booking Conditions, which are the contract and which we send with every quote; if anything here and the Booking Conditions ever differ, the Booking Conditions apply.
The six steps
| Step | What happens | When |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Tell us | Send your dates, who is coming, your budget and what matters to you through our plan form, or pick a dated trip | Any time |
| 2. Your plan and price | A specialist sends a draft itinerary with an itemised quote: lodges by name, park and conservancy fees, transfers and flights inside Kenya, line by line | Within two business days |
| 3. Make it yours | A call or emails to change lodges, pace or budget until the plan is right | As long as you need |
| 4. Book | Pay in full, or make the first of your monthly payments. Your contract starts when we receive that first payment and email your booking confirmation | When you are ready |
| 5. Get ready | Flights advice, eTA and insurance reminders, and your pre-departure briefing with the final documents | From booking to departure |
| 6. Travel | Your guide meets you in Kenya, and our 24-hour line is there for the whole trip. Afterwards, we ask how it went | Your trip and after |
Dated group trips work the same way, only faster: choose a trip on our trips page, pick how many are coming, and pay in full or monthly online. Your places are confirmed straight away, and a specialist follows up within two business days with flights advice and your briefing. For a custom trip, we send the payment schedule with your quote.
The money
| Question | The answer |
|---|---|
| Is there a deposit? | No. You pay in full when you book, or start a monthly plan |
| How does the monthly plan work? | The price is divided into equal monthly payments. The first is charged when you book and the rest are charged automatically to the same card on the schedule shown at checkout. All payments finish before departure |
| Does the monthly plan cost extra? | No. There is no charge for using it |
| How do I pay? | By card, through Stripe's secure checkout. We never see your full card number. Prices are in U.S. dollars, per person unless stated otherwise |
| What if a payment fails? | We email you and try again. If it is not made within 14 days of the due date, we may treat the booking as cancelled by you, and the cancellation charges apply |
| Can the price go up after I book? | No surcharges. The only exception is a new government fee or tax, such as a park fee rise, which we show you with the official notice. If it adds more than 10 percent to your trip price, you may cancel for a full refund |
| Sales tax? | Where it applies, it is calculated and shown at checkout before you pay |
| Discount and referral codes? | Apply them when you book; they cannot be added afterwards |
What is included
Every quote and trip page lists exactly what is included and what is not. On our safari itineraries, that usually means your accommodation and meals on safari, a vehicle and professional guide, the park and conservancy fees, the flights inside Kenya that the plan uses, and 24-hour support, with emergency evacuation cover through a flying-doctor service while you travel. Unless your quote says otherwise, these are not included:
- International flights
- Travel insurance
- The Kenya eTA, about $30 per traveler, and Kenya's mandatory inbound health insurance, about $44 plus fees
- Vaccinations and malaria tablets
- Tips for guides and camp staff
- Drinks, where the lodge does not include them, and personal spending
If you need to cancel
You can cancel at any time by emailing us, and the cancellation takes effect on the day we receive your email. The charge depends on how many days before departure your notice reaches us, and is based on the total price of the cancelled booking.
| When we receive your notice | What you pay | What you get back |
|---|---|---|
| 91 days or more before departure | An administration fee of $250 per person, plus any supplier costs that cannot be refunded to us, such as ticketed flights or purchased permits, which we show you | Everything else you have paid |
| 61 to 90 days before departure | 50 percent of the total price | Anything you have paid above that |
| 60 days or fewer, or if you do not travel | 100 percent of the total price | Nothing, which is why insurance matters |
If you are on a monthly plan, your remaining payments stop the day you cancel. We keep what you have paid up to the cancellation charge and refund anything above it, and we never ask you for more than you have already paid toward the booking. If only some travelers in a booking cancel, the charges apply to their places, and the price for the others may change if it depended on the group size. Travel insurance with cancellation cover may reimburse these charges.
Changes
- 91 days or more before departure: $50 per change, plus any extra costs from suppliers, subject to availability
- Within 90 days of departure: a change may be treated as a cancellation and a new booking
- Passing your place to someone else: allowed before departure if they meet the trip's requirements, for $50 plus any supplier charges, such as an airline name-change fee
- Peak-season lodges have strict terms of their own, so date changes are easiest with good notice outside the busiest months
If we change or cancel your trip
Minor changes, such as a lodge of a similar standard or an adjusted route, can happen, and we tell you as soon as we know. If we need to make a major change before departure, such as a significant change of dates, a lower standard of accommodation for a large part of the trip or dropping a main destination, you choose: accept the change, take a comparable alternative, or have a full refund of everything you have paid. A scheduled departure that does not reach its minimum number of travelers may be cancelled, with at least 45 days' notice, and if we cancel for any reason other than your actions, you choose a comparable alternative or a full refund.
Events outside anyone's control are different. If war, unrest, natural disaster, an epidemic, government action, airline or airport closures, or a U.S. State Department advisory raised to Reconsider Travel or Do Not Travel for the places you are visiting means we cannot provide your trip, we offer a later trip or a refund of what you have paid, minus supplier costs that cannot be refunded to us, which we show you. If you decide not to travel because of such an event while we can still run your trip, the normal cancellation charges apply. If your flight is cancelled or delayed, call our 24-hour line: we rebook transfers, move a bush flight or add a Nairobi night, and your insurance covers costs we cannot recover.
Insurance, documents and health
Comprehensive travel insurance is required for every traveler. It must cover medical treatment, emergency evacuation and repatriation, and should cover cancellation, baggage and the activities on your trip; send us the policy details before you travel. We do not sell insurance. Kenya's mandatory inbound health insurance, bought on eCitizen before your eTA is issued, is an entry requirement and does not replace it.
You are responsible for a passport valid for at least six months after your trip ends, with two blank pages, your eTA and any visas for other countries on your route. We send reminders. Tell us before you book about any medical condition, disability, dietary need or reduced mobility, so we can say honestly whether a trip suits you and make reasonable arrangements. Travelers under 18 travel with a parent or guardian, or on a supervised program such as KESCA with written consent.
Who you talk to
Kenya Experience LLC is a collaboration of two U.S. companies: GCK Travel, which plans travel for groups, schools, churches and institutions, and Roundtrip Safaris, which runs our trips on the ground in Kenya. Your contract is with Kenya Experience LLC. For safaris and bookings, you write to Lawrence Njenga; for groups, schools, churches and KESCA, to Dr. David Angwenyi. Their addresses are on our plan page. In Kenya, your guide and our 24-hour line take over, and if something is wrong, tell them straight away so we can put it right while you are there. If you are still not satisfied, write to us within 30 days of coming home and we will reply within 30 days.
We do not print licence numbers on the site, because they renew every year. Ask for our partners' current licence and registration details with your quote, and check them with the regulator yourself; our guide to choosing a safari company explains what to look for. Only travelers we have hosted can review us, and we publish good and bad reviews alike.
Your information
We ask for passport details, dates of birth, dietary and medical information and emergency contacts only when we need them to book flights, lodges, permits or activities, and we share them only as needed to run your trip: with our partner companies, with the airlines, lodges, guides and authorities who provide it, and with service providers such as Stripe, which handles payments. We do not sell personal information. Our privacy notice explains how long we keep records and the choices you have.
