Volunteer in Kenya

Programmes start from £510 for one week, deposit included — one price covering your bed in the Nairobi volunteer apartments, the meals listed, airport pickup, orientation, placement and 24-hour support. The specials include game drives, tours and a safari; the raptor programme includes on-site accommodation, training and transfers. Longer stays cost less per week and each programme page shows the full week-by-week total. Flights, the eTA, insurance, local transport and personal spending are extra.

Most nationalities need Kenya's Electronic Travel Authorisation (eTA), applied for online before you travel; your passport must be valid for six months beyond your return with two blank pages. Check the current fee and processing time on the official Kenyan eTA portal — our pre-departure guide walks you through it.

With sensible habits, yes. You live in a gated, guarded apartment complex in a residential suburb of Nairobi, get a thorough safety briefing from the coordinator, and have 24-hour support. Use taxis or ride-hailing after dark, keep valuables out of sight in town and on matatus, avoid areas the team flags, and travel in groups at night. Our Kenya programmes have run for well over a decade and most volunteers arrive solo.

17 on the childcare, teaching and special programmes, with a parental consent form for under-18s, and 18 on the raptor conservation and medical programmes. Families with children are welcome on the childcare, teaching and special programmes. The medical programme is for registered healthcare professionals only.

From one week to 24 weeks on the childcare and teaching programmes, one to twelve weeks on the medical programme and two to twelve weeks at the raptor centre; the specials are fixed at one or two weeks. All programmes start on Sundays throughout the year and the next available start is 17 Oct 2026.

In Nairobi, in shared volunteer apartments (usually four to a room in bunk beds, with private units available) inside a gated complex in Lower Kabete, with hot showers, kitchen facilities and Wi-Fi. Raptor volunteers stay on the sanctuary at Lake Naivasha in a private living complex with solar power, hot water, fast Wi-Fi and 24-hour security — your own room and bathroom when there are three volunteers or fewer.

In Nairobi you get breakfast supplies to cook yourself and a dinner cooked by the house cook on weekdays, and three meals a day at weekends; weekday lunch is your own, usually a packed sandwich or a cheap meal near the project. At the raptor centre basic groceries, water, tea and squash are supplied and volunteers cook for themselves (a cook can be arranged for groups of four to six). Specials include meals as listed in their itineraries.

Yes. The local coordinator meets you at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi and takes you to the volunteer apartments (or agrees a meeting point if you arrive overland). Raptor volunteers are driven directly to Naivasha with the return transfer to the airport included; on the Nairobi programmes the departure transfer can be arranged at extra cost.

A yellow fever certificate is required if you arrive from a yellow-fever country and is widely recommended for Kenya; malaria prophylaxis is advised for Naivasha, the coast and safari areas (risk in Nairobi itself is low); hepatitis A, typhoid and routine vaccinations are commonly recommended. See a travel clinic six to eight weeks before departure and check NHS Fit for Travel or the CDC.

The dry seasons — January to February and July to October — are the most comfortable and the best for safaris, with the Maasai Mara migration from July to October. The long rains (March–May) and short rains (November) are wetter but quieter and cheaper for weekend trips. Nairobi's altitude keeps temperatures mild all year, and programmes run year-round.

Yes. The 1-week special includes a Nairobi National Park game drive and the 2-week special a 1-night/2-day Lake Nakuru or Naivasha safari plus the Giraffe Centre, Mamba Village and Bomas of Kenya. On all other programmes the coordinator helps you book weekend safaris to Nakuru, Naivasha or the Maasai Mara at your own cost.

Layers for Nairobi's mild days and cool evenings, modest clothes for schools and centres, sturdy shoes and outdoor clothes for the raptor sanctuary, a rain jacket in the rainy seasons, mosquito repellent, sunscreen and a hat, a headlamp, a small zipped bag for valuables, your own towel, a first-aid kit and any regular medication plus malaria tablets where advised. Teaching and childcare volunteers can bring stationery or books; binoculars are a bonus at the sanctuary.