The eTA (Electronic Travel Authorisation) as we have repeatedly written, as of 1 January 2024 is the only way to travel to Kenya and be boarded on departure. It is not a visa, so there is no hope of obtaining it on arrival in Nairobi or Mombasa, but the online authorisation to travel and receive the tourist visa on arrival.

The eTA can only be obtained through one site, that of the Kenyan government which is etakenya.go.ke

With the high season approaching and the thousands of tourists about to leave for the African country, along with the requests for authorisation, ‘scam’ sites that promise to send you the eTA and actually steal money and time are also multiplying.

In the best case scenario, if the authorisation is granted, it is in fact an agency disguised as a real Kenyan government site (complete with links to YouTube videos of President Ruto and other references, starting with the image of Mount Kenya) and with the option of Italian language as well.

At worst, especially if it asks for exactly the amount stipulated by the eTA, i.e. 30 euros plus tax, it is a real fake.

For example, the site etakenya.com, is misleading in that it may imply that it is the official one, but instead it offers a ‘service’, as one can guess from an internal page of the site. If you want to throw away 50 euros or so, you can also rely on them, but the risk is that you will then always have to use them in the future, as you do not have the details to access the eTA again under your own name. So be very careful, better to ask a friend or an agency ‘in the flesh’ for help than to fall into this trap!

Happy Kenya, ‘safari njema’ as we say here (have a good trip) and... always be very careful on the net.