- Published
- 4 September 2026
- Reading
- 6 min read
- Where
- Six African countries
- Prices checked
- 16. Sep 2026.
Six African countries, six different procedures. Three are settled at the airport, two online before departure, and one may ask for nothing at all.
Africa is not uniform on visas: in one country the visa is bought at a desk on landing, in another it is applied for online a week ahead, and some passports enter Mauritius without a single paper. The table shows the procedure for passports that need a visa; rules depend on yours, so check the official e-visa site or your foreign ministry before you book. The one mistake that cannot be fixed is learning this at the airport.
Six countries, in order
What is done online and what on the spot
Kenya and Tanzania require an application on their official portals, with a photograph and flight and accommodation details. The Kenyan authorisation is usually approved within days, the Tanzanian one can take up to two weeks — so both are done at least three weeks before departure. Egypt, Tunisia and Namibia are settled at the airport, but paid in foreign currency.
Where you need cash, and where you don't
Visas on arrival are usually paid in cash — dollars, euros or the local currency. Namibia is the exception: at the airport it is paid by card, with cash (Namibian dollars, rand, dollars or euros) only as a backup at land borders where the card reader is known to go offline. For Egypt carry dollars or euros in clean, undamaged notes, since change is rarely available at those desks.
Yellow fever and other papers
A yellow fever certificate is required if you arrive from a country where the disease is present, including a transit through such a country (Addis Ababa, for instance). A direct flight from Europe does not trigger it. Zanzibar requires its own compulsory travel insurance at €38, bought from the island's insurer and not replaceable by your own policy.
Kenya, in brief
What now
If this sounds like your trip, start here.
Nairobi
→A savanna with lions and rhinos seven kilometres from the centre of a capital — and a city that for most people is just the night before the safari
Nairobi in 2 days
→The national park at six in the morning and Langata in the afternoon on day one, the museum and the centre on…
Day trips from Nairobi
→The Masai Mara to the west, Amboseli to the south, Nakuru and Naivasha to the north, Hell's Gate by bicycle…
What Nairobi costs
→Nairobi is a cheap city with expensive gates: the room, the Uber and the nyama choma are small change, while…
Kenya
→A safari charged by the day, not by the trip — a reserve whose gate fee doubles in July, while a whole trip costs only half as much more
Kenya or Tanzania for a first safari: the month decides more than the country
→Kenya is recommended as the cheaper one, and in the migration months it is not. The difference between the…
What a safari really costs: what you pay before you see a lion
→A safari is sold by the day, not by the item, which is why nobody sees where the money goes. Here is one day…
What to pack for a safari, and what to leave at home
→The biggest safari packing mistake is not a forgotten item but the suitcase itself. Light aircraft weigh your…
If this sounds like you, there is also Nairobi, Masai Mara and Amboseli
Six African countries has no page of its own yet, but the region does. See which of them suits you, then pin what you have already done.
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