Is it safe to go to Kenya?

Watch that your travel insurance is still valid. Some companies won't pay out in case of incident if you travel against the advice of the government.

You might be interested to read http://www.metafilter.com/67857/Kenya-in-Turmoil about Kenya.

It isn't safe now, and *probably* won't be in a month. The government travel report's an excellent guideline.

I have friends and family that go to Kenya often. (And I'm going in a few months as well.) The philosophy we have regarding Nairobi is get in and then get the hell out as quickly as possible due to the violent nature of the city. (And we never leave the hotel without an escort.) The rest of Kenya is lovely and my dad is off there next week with little worry. I'd say go.

http://africaexpatwivesclub.blogspot.com/ may be of help, it's a blog by an expat living in Nairobi. The general gist seems to be that by-and-large you can go about your daily business.

I lived in Nairobi in 1998-99, so my info might be a bit stale. Still, there are some things that don't change; for instance, geographically speaking, if you go straight from the airport to central Nairobi, you won't be going anywhere near Kibera, the apparent focus of violence in the city. When you're there, stick to the hotel bar & restaurants; I was advised by my local friends never to go out in the city at night as a foreigner except with large crowds of locals. You say you're going north... where exactly? I'm guessing Lake Turkana-ish? Likewise, that's nowhere near Kisumu/Eldoret and so you would avoid that area. But that travel warning cautioned of road blocks across the country, so... hard to say. I wouldn't go any closer to the Sudan / Ethiopia / Somali borders as those have been tense for quite some time, and Sudan in particular is probably worse now than when I was there. It's a tough call. I got pretty brazen about all the dangers when I lived there, and I've been itching to go back for some time, but the situation there now is quite unsettling.

rkent: We're going to Ol Ari Nyiro, Laikipia Nature Conservancy, Northern Kenya. http://www.gallmannkenya.org/earth/index.html is the festival.

http://halperin.wordpress.com/ from a friend of mine in Kenya that might help you.

I say go. I know a 20-year old who is there currently. It was scary when the violence broke out, but things are calmer now. Her family went to see her and had no problems. Africa can be sketchy, but it's amazing and you shouldn't give up this opportunity.