The Conscious Traveller: Kenya on a budget, through the eyes of locals

Some ways of taking an ethical trip in Kenya include booking a tour run by former gang members and staying in a locally run safari camp.

At times, I wonder if I am being voyeuristic or exploitative as I listen to our guide’s tales of extreme poverty. For instance, he tells us how he began a career as a pickpocket at age nine after his father died and his mother became an alcoholic. The concept of ethical travel is not new. In 1999, the United Nations set out a framework known as the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism, recognising travel as a driver of solidarity and development, and outlining guiding principles across the economic, cultural, social and environmental aspects of tourism.

I glean useful, up-to-date pre-travel advice from talking to locals and other travellers on forums such as Reddit in Nairobi’s Lavington suburb, I tell the affable owner I am heading to Kenya’s coast after my safari.She recommends The House Of Rust by Khadija Abdalla Bajaber, set in the region I am about to visit. Reading Bajaber’s beautiful tale of a young girl’s search for her fisherman father makes me appreciate the sights even more.

I go in December, during shoulder season, and find wildlife-spotting opportunities abundant but with much smaller crowds. In Kenya, shoulder season runs from October to mid-December. Brightly painted local minibuses called matatu are the cheapest way to commute between towns. PHOTO: CHUAN KOU-CHENG

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