While there is no perfect age to travel, traveling in your 20s is ideal seeing some of us are single with minimal obligations. A large percentage of travelers choose to go backpacking in Europe or Asia as the ultimate trips to take in their 20s. However, what do you do if you are living in Kenya and you are not in a position to travel outside of Africa to experience the beautiful countries that make-up Europe or Asia? Well, you can sulk and feel sorry for yourself, or you can explore Kenya and the nearby countries in East and Southern Africa. By easy, I mean all these places are visa-free and can be accessible by road if you are on a tight budget or by flight. Folks, in no particular order, here are 20 Trips Kenyans in their 20s should consider taking.
1. Game Drive and Camping in a National park
Kenya offers one of the best wildlife tourism in the world. You only need a weekend and your preferred choice of park seeing we have 54 national parks. Not only do we have the big five we also have the Samburu special 5.
Read More: A Game Drive at Tsavo West
2. Explore Kenyan coast
Now I know most of you have been to Mombasa but have you seen the beauty that is beyond Mombasa? Think the Lamu archipelago, Kilifi, Manda Island, Watamu or even Malindi?
Read More: The Beginner’s guide to the Kenyan coast
3. See the real life Wakanda in Kabale, Uganda
Kabale is home to Lake Bunyonyi which has been said to be the real life wakanda. It’s stunningly beautiful, surrounded by green terraced hills that are equally breathtaking not to forget the friendly Ugandans.
read more: Is Lake Bunyonyi The Most Beautiful Place In Uganda?
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4. Southern African road trip
Start in Nairobi and drive through all the way to Southern Africa for the road trip of a lifetime. There are several routes you can take, but the most common one is Kenya to Tanzania to Malawi to Zambia with short day trips to nearby Namibia and Botswana then Zimbabwe then finally South Africa. You only require a visa to South Africa as the rest of the countries are visa-free for a Kenyan passport holder.
Between the forests, the ocean, the lakes, the falls and even deserts, this will be an epic trip that you will never forget in your lifetime. You can travel by public buses, go with a tour company or even drive yourself seeing the flights are super expensive.
Leo, a Kenyan traveled from Nairobi to Victoria falls by road and rail. Read his experience here.
Read more: How I traveled from Nairobi, Kenya to Victoria Falls (Zambia/Zimbabwe) by road
Some of the highlights you can expect from the Southern Africa road trip include:
5. Immerse yourself in the beauty that is Zanzibar Island in Tanzania
Read more: Here Goes Tanzania!
6. Go Snorkelling or Scuba Diving on one of the Islands surrounded by Lake Malawi
Read more: How to plan your ideal budget trip to Malawi
7. Be a dare devil in Livingstone,Zambia
Read more: Have fun chasing Victoria falls
8. See the natural world wonder; Victoria falls from both the Zambian and Zimbabwean side
Read more: Which side of Victoria falls has the best views?
9. Mvuke Spa, Olkaria
Swim at the only geothermal pool in Africa. The pool’s water which happens to be turquoise blue has skin healing properties.
Read More: Africa’s First Exciting Geothermal Pool Found in Kenya
10. Ziplining, Kereita
Take a Saturday morning off and go Ziplining. This activity will leave you in awe of the breathtaking views of Kereita forest.
Read more: Ziplining at the longest Zipline in East Africa
11. White Water Rafting, Sagana
This adventure is not for the weak at heart, but it should be that thing you should try once in your lifetime.
Read more: White Water Rafting At River Sagana
12. Explore more Islands in Homa Bay County
I can count the number of Kenyans that have set foot to Takawiri and Mfangano Islands. I bet you are not one of them. These are beautiful hidden treasures that most people do not know about, and it’s about time you see Lake Victoria beyond Kisumu.
Read More: The Hidden treasure that is Homa Bay County
13 Skydiving, Diani
Nothing beats having a bird’s eye view of Diani after jumping off a moving plane. It’s terrifying and thrilling at the same time.
Read more:The Perfect Tandem Sky Diving in Diani
14. Take A Solo Trip
If you keep waiting for your friends you might wait forever so why not travel solo? Besides, you are never alone seeing you meet several people along the way. Need help planning a solo trip?
Read more: 8 Steps to take when planning a solo trip
15. Nyege Nyege Festival, Uganda
An international music festival and honestly the best I have attended yet. I attended the festival from 6-9th September 2018; the event had five stages and performances from over 200 artists! To access one of the performance stages would require a ride across the River Nile.
Read more: Nyege Nyege festival guide
16 Summit a mountain
There are a lot of mountains to summit, but the major ones include Mount Kenya and Kilimanjaro. I am planning to summit one of these babies soon. Who’s coming?
17. East African Road Trip
Set off on another road trip from Nairobi to Uganda, Rwanda and finally Burundi, one of Africa’s least visited countries and guess what? You do not need a visa to any of these countries.
Read more: A Complete Itinerary From Kenya To Burundi
Some of the highlights from this road trip include:
18.Bungee jumping over river Nile in Jinja, Uganda
19. Exploring Rwanda, land of a thousand hills
Read more: 10 Affordable things to do in Kigali, Rwanda
20. Watching the sunset over Lake Tanganyika, Burundi
Read more: Things to do in Bujumbura, Burundi
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Other things include experiencing the twin migration in Kenya. The migration consists of the wildlife migration in Maasai Mara and the whale migration in Watamu; You can also choose to go Gorilla Trekking in Uganda or head to Northern Kenya and discover more hidden gems. Maybe I will curate another list.
In the meantime, what are you crossing off this list soon?
Nice post..I now have ideas.
I want to cross over the Southern African road trip from the list.. Wondering how many leave days I need to take🤔🤔 and the budget🤔
It’s affordable if you travel by road. I always indicate costs of activities and transport on the various blog posts on countries I have visited. Check them out for more information on budgeting.
Love it!! Number 3, 17, 18,19 and 20 are next on my to do list.
I can already see you on the road.
Thanks for passing by!
Nice! I’m not Kenyan but these are defineitely things i would be adding to my bucket list. 🙂
Go you Jennie B! Where are you from? Of course if you do not mind me asking.
Not Kenyan too but so many things on my list. I’m looking to go on a Southern and Eastern Africa trip soon. Burundi wasn’t on that list but I’ll check for visa restrictions and consider visiting too.
Yaaaay! I can’t wait to see how you will capture this part of Africa. Meanwhile I’m hoping to come back to West Africa soon. I hope to meet you then. Finally
Love the tips. Travelling to Rwanda for work soon. Looking forward to stealing some time and have some fun
Nice recommendations!
Thank you Victor!
I feel sad for not exploring much…lol! but am planning to go across east africa by road.
Hey there Dolphin. Don’t be sad. You’re not late. And East Africa is very doable by road. All the best 🙂
3,5,12,13,15,16 are part of my plans for next year. I am still working on number 4.
Awesomeness! 🙌 🙌 Can’t wait to hear all about your experience ☺️
I always love traveling to different countries. I try atleast one or two countries in a year. Currently I’m in Rwanda. I’ve done solo trips but I think I should come up with a page of people who like traveling and we do it together.
Nice list, I’m half-way there!
Well in Mark!