Traveling To Africa During Covid
I’ve just returned from two weeks in Rwanda and Kenya and there is so much to share, it’s hard to know where to begin. I will start by saying this trip was incredible on so many levels that I am literally bursting at the seems. I have been traveling the world for 20 years now, and this trip marks my 42nd and 43rd country I’ve been blessed to see. I have always known travel was a blessing but I have a far deeper appreciation for it now than ever before
I also understand that for many right now travel can feel scary and uncertain. To travel across the world while there is a global pandemic is an extremely personal choice for many reasons, but the one thing I can do for you is share honestly about my experience.
This blog is not to convince you whether or not it’s safe for you to travel to Africa in the near future, it’s simply to share what the experience was like for me. For me, it starts with perspective. Many parts of Africa have some of the lowest infection rates in the world, and have dealt with Covid in a responsible manner from the beginning.
I don’t know that we can say the same here in America— particularly coming from California where I live. As a visitor to these countries, I know that it is of utmost importance to take all the precaution we can if we do choose to visit. It’s my job to make sure I am as safe a visitor as I can be, and the next section will outline just what I had to do to make that possible, prior to me visiting and for the duration of my stay.
What precautions are in place?
For my two week stay in Rwanda and Kenya I had 5 Covid tests.
72 hours before departure I took a PCR test to be able to fly on KLM as well as land in Rwanda. I chose Vault as it allows you to test at home and I’ve had a good experience with them already with the testing I did to travel to Hawaii.
Upon arrival in Kigali, Rwanda every single passenger tests at the airport. You then stay in your hotel room until the test results come back negative. In my case I landed at 8PM and my results were uploaded by 8am the next morning. There was no negative effect on my trip, and I could head out and do some sightseeing that day. Rwanda has done a great job managing this pandemic and they hope to keep it that way, so this includes stringent measures for arriving travelers. I respect that.
(note: you have to have a negative test within 48 hours of visiting the mountain gorillas currently, so it made sense to do this part of the trip right away.)
Two days before leaving Rwanda for Kenya, I took another PCR test. For this test we had a team meet us at the lodge we were staying at so the process was seamless and wasn’t a disruption to our trip in any way. However, this does make a case for considering trips that don’t include multiple countries right now.
Half way through my time in Kenya I took another PCR test, this time with a team that met us at the local airport as we were transiting from the north of the country to the south. This test was because you are now required to test negative before retuning home to the U.S. (but it is also required to leave Kenya.)
A few days before departure, KLM instituted a new requirement that passengers simply transiting through Amsterdam needed to have a negative rapid test within 4 hours of departure at the start of their trip. This was frustrating but unavoidable. They did set up a testing site at Nairobi airport to accommodate passengers flying out and there were no real hiccups.
Needless to say, 5 tests in two weeks makes me feel like I have done my due diligence when it comes to testing. I never went more than 3 days without a test, and while yes, this can be an inconvenience, it also allowed me to have one of the coolest travel experiences of my life. For me, it was worth it.
In America, we often experience some people following protocol and some people who don’t. That’s not the case in Africa. It amazed me to see locals walking in the middle of the countryside, with virtually nobody in sight, and yet still they wore their masks. Masks are part of people’s daily wardrobe, sanitization happens constantly, temperature checks occur any time you enter an establishment, and they stay on top of all of it with the support of everyone.
Was the experience altered in any way?
If anything, I believe the experience was enhanced. Traveling to Africa right now means that popular experiences like gorilla trekking are not at maxed out with people as they normally are, group sizes are smaller, and lodges are operating at lower capacities giving you plenty of space and the ability to enjoy the properties with all the social distancing you can hope for.
This is also what makes parts of Africa such a perfect travel destination right now, period. It’s the small lodges, the open spaces, the outdoor activities, the wildlife encounters, the communing in nature, that create the very best option for travel given what the world is currently going through.
I consider my personal travel right now to be in support of an industry that I love and that has been devastated during this pandemic. These local economies that depend so heavily on tourism are full of beautiful people whose livelihoods depend on the ability for travelers to return to their countries safely.
I want to support this in any way I can and I’ll do that by promoting what I believe to be safe and responsible travel. It will continue to be a very personal decision, and it’s certainly not an easy one as requirements and protocols seemingly change overnight these days.
For me, this trip was a beautiful reminder of what i know to be true and what I will continue to share with you —Travel is how I feel most alive.
It is the best thing in the world and it brings me so much joy to experience it for myself, and then be able to take that passion and share it with you the best way I can, hopefully inspiring you to have those same life changing moments.
Africa is a place that seeps into your soul and stays there. You are changed for the better any time you have the opportunity to experience this beautiful land. If you are looking to plan a trip of a lifetime to Africa now or in the future, I’d love to help you bring that to life. Please reach out whenever you are ready!