2seeds

Sandi mentioned in a post that you and another traveler just returned from Kenya/Tanzania.
My husband and I have a trip planned for mid-Dec however with the recent US travel warning, many in my family, including my husband and I, are concerned about travel to Kenya. Do you have any comments or information re: safety and security in these areas in light of this new warning and your recent return from the area?
We are using WildTrek in Kenya and Roys in Tanzania. What operators did you use?
Any information that would help our cause to feel safe on this trip would be great!
Thanks in advance.

Judy_in_Calgary

Hello 2seeds,

I hope Steve will see your post and respond.

In case he doesn't check into Fodors immediately, perhaps you could e-mail him directly.

You could get his e-mail address off one of his previous posts, e.g., in this thread:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34538195

I mean I assume it's okay to e-mail him directly. I assume when people openly publish their e-mail addresses as part of the online names, it means they don't mind being contacted directly. Certainly that's what it means in my case.

But it would be nice, for the benefit of other travellers, if Steve's response to your question was posted here too.

2seeds

Thanks! I am eagerly awaiting a response fromn Steve007NY. I did email him directly last night. Hopefully he'll post here though so others can benefit.

Steve007NY

In science, one talks about the problem of measuring 'rare events". The issue with a terrorist atack is that one can only 'play the odds'. We NEVER felt any sort of concern for our safety while in Kenya/Tanzania the past few weeks, but then, I was actively involved in post-911 victim care, so my threshold for worry may be higher than most.

I also posted in the other "Kenya security" post.

Kate_W

I can't offer any specific advice, but I will suggest that you look into paying a small fee (about US$25) for a travel security briefing from iJET Travel Management Services. I use them sometimes for business travel. You can order a comprehensive report, tied to your itinerary. Once you've registered your itinerary with them, they will push out electronically to your phone, computer, PDA etc updated reports when new issues develop. These might not reach you in the wilds of Kenya and Tanzania, but probably will be accessible in a number of places en route (and in the days leading up to your trip). This information doesn't eliminate the risk, of course, but it does provide you with more information (and timely information) to help you make decisions before you go (and probably during your trip as well). You should also look into registering with the State Department before you leave (you'll have to activate the registration once you arrive in Kenya via phone or internet). Registering helps the State Department find you in an emergency at home or abroad.

2seeds

Kate_W: Thanks for the suggestion. Do you know if the iJET updates are the same updates given once you register with the Embassy in Kenya and Tanzania? I already did that on the state department website (although I never recevied and confirmation) I already activated the update part via email almost immediately after I registered. Is this supposed to be considered my confirmation too?

Kate_W

I'm not sure if they're the same updates. I suspect that you get more information from iJET (e.g. for matters that are important/useful but not urgent). For example, for my NZ/OZ trip last year, I got a warning about 10 days in advance saying that there had been an outbreak of measles in one of my Australian stopover cities and advising me to check my immunization status. More recently, I got a useful warning for my own hometown (the start of the itinerary) advising me that striking public service employees were blocking the road to the airport - I was able to pass this information along to some foreign colleagues who were coming to visit. I suspect the State Department warnings are limited to the very urgent stuff. (You can also ask iJet to limit the warnings to certain categories or certain levels of seriousness.) I also found that iJet's reports are more comprehensive than the government's warnings. They give a risk rating (a composite score, plus one broken down be categories like health, terrorism, crime, etc) that helps you to compare the place to other places with which you're familiar. Finally, they provide links to a lot of background information (some on their site, some on other sites).