Schedule
When you need to be here
Saturday is also Creative Coffee day: speakers and activities all day, closing with evening events. It is ticketed separately, and Flavor Map cuppers get in for KES 1,000 (about USD 7.70). Since you need to be at Shamba by 17:00 anyway, it is worth arriving early and making a day of it. Ticket details will follow.
Booking flights: if you fly in on the 14th, land by early afternoon so immigration, the drive to Westlands and the shuttle still get you to Shamba by 17:00. Better still, arrive the day before. Until the schedule is out, don’t book a flight home before Monday evening.
Entry, step 1
Travel health insurance
New since 6 October 2026
Every visitor to Kenya now needs the government’s inbound travel health insurance, and the eTA application will not go through without it. The High Court upheld the rule on 7 October. Buy the insurance first, then apply for the eTA.
- Who needs it
- Every non-Kenyan visitor staying less than 12 months. Exempt: Kenyan residents, citizens of East African Community states, and children under three.
- Other African passports
- If you don’t need an eTA, the position is not yet settled. Buy it anyway: USD 52 is a small price against a problem at the immigration desk.
- Where
- insurance.ecitizen.go.ke, under “Inbound Travel Health Insurance.” The eTA application also offers it before you pay.
- Cost
- USD 44 plus fees, about USD 52 per person. Each traveler needs their own policy.
- What it covers
- Up to USD 50,000: medical treatment, emergency evacuation, repatriation, prescriptions and mental health care.
- Have ready
- Your passport, a selfie (the system matches it to your passport photo) and your travel dates.
- Proof
- No certificate is emailed. Save the reference number and a screenshot of the “Valid” status on eCitizen. Immigration may ask to see it.
- Your own travel insurance does not replace it. The portal accepts only the Kenyan scheme policy. Keep your own cover too, for cancellation, lost baggage and medical costs above the scheme’s limits.
- Already have your eTA? Buy the insurance on eCitizen anyway. You don’t need to apply for a new eTA.
Entry, step 2
The Kenya eTA
Kenya abolished traditional visas in 2024. Almost everyone now travels on an Electronic Travel Authorization, applied for online before departure. It is quick, but it is not instant, and it expires, so the timing below matters more than the process.
- Who needs one
- US, UK, EU, Canadian, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Australian and most other non-African passports.
- Who does not
- African Union nationals, except Somalia and Libya, enter visa-free for two months. EAC citizens (Burundi, DRC, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda) get up to six months.
- Where
- etakenya.go.ke and nowhere else. Third-party sites replicate the form and add their own fees.
- Cost
- USD 30 standard, roughly USD 32–34 once bank charges land. Expedited processing adds USD 100 and is near-immediate.
- When to apply
- Approvals usually issue within 72 hours. The authorization is single-entry and you must travel within 90 days of approval, so the window for this event is mid-October to 1 November. Buy the insurance first; the eTA portal finds it from your passport.
- Have ready
- Passport with six months validity and a blank page, a passport photo or selfie, your return ticket, a hotel booking confirmation, and a payment card.
Two things people get wrong
Save the approval PDF to your phone, or print it. You will be asked for it at the immigration desk, before you have a local SIM and before airport wifi can be counted on. And note that an eTA admits you as a visitor to attend the event; it does not authorize paid work in Kenya. If your participation is contracted rather than invited, tell us and we will arrange the correct pass.
Health
What you actually need
- Yellow fever. A certificate is required only if you are arriving from or transiting a yellow-fever endemic country. Several African and South American routings qualify, so carry your card if there is any doubt about your connection.
- Malaria. Nairobi sits at 1,795 metres and city risk is negligible. If you are extending to the coast, Lamu or western Kenya, that is a different conversation, and one for a travel clinic.
- Routine. Hepatitis A and typhoid are the standard recommendations for Kenya. No COVID requirements remain.
Weather
November on the Nairobi plateau
November is the tail of the short rains. Days run about 24 °C / 75 °F, nights drop to 16 °C / 60 °F, and roughly one day in three sees rain, usually in the afternoon and usually brief.
- Layers and a light rain shell. Nairobi evenings are cooler than most people expect from a city on the equator.
- Closed shoes. The venue sits on working farm and wetland ground and it may be soft underfoot.
- Type G plugs, 240 V. Bring an adapter.
- Altitude is real. Drink more water than you think you need on the first day and go easy on the first night out.
Money
Shillings, cards and M-Pesa
- The currency is the Kenyan shilling, trading around KES 130 to the US dollar. Confirm the rate closer to travel.
- Cards work at Nairobi hotels, restaurants and malls. Outside those, mobile money rules.
- M-Pesa is the real payment system in Kenya. Buy a Safaricom SIM on arrival, register it with your passport, load cash at any agent, and you can pay for essentially anything, including most taxis and market stalls.
- ATMs are everywhere, including JKIA arrivals. Expect KES 200–350 per withdrawal plus whatever your own bank charges.
- If you bring US dollars in cash, bring clean notes issued after 2006. Torn or marked bills get refused.
- Tipping. Ten percent in restaurants where no service charge appears, KES 200–300 per bag for porters, round up KES 50–100 on Uber and Bolt.
Connectivity
Getting a line
Safaricom is the dominant network and coverage in and around Nairobi is excellent. There is a Safaricom branch at JKIA, just outside Terminal 1A arrivals, open 24 hours, so it makes no difference how late you land. Reckon on KES 100–250 depending on whether you take a physical SIM or an eSIM line, registration takes a passport and a few minutes, and bundles start near KES 100. Buy one there and you walk out of the airport with M-Pesa already working.
A travel eSIM bought before you fly will get you data the moment you land, but it is not a Kenyan line and will not give you M-Pesa. Only a Safaricom line does that, physical or eSIM.
Arrival
Landing at JKIA
- Immigration runs 30–60 minutes when several long-haul flights land together. Have your eTA approval, insurance reference, return ticket and hotel address to hand.
- Uber and Bolt operate from a designated pickup area. Download the apps before you fly. Reckon on KES 1,000–2,500 to the city centre and KES 2,500–4,000 to Westlands.
- Airport taxis cost more, roughly KES 3,000–5,000 to Westlands, and are worth it if you would rather not hunt for a pickup bay after a night flight.
- Ask your driver to take the Nairobi Expressway. The toll is KES 300–500 and it turns a punishing Mombasa Road crawl into a straightforward run.
- Rush hour is 07:00–09:30 and 17:00–20:00. Outside it, Westlands is 40 minutes from the airport. Inside it, allow 70 or more.
The venue
Shamba Events Centre, Loresho Ridge
The venue occupies three acres inside the University of Nairobi's College of Agriculture and Veterinary Science, looking out over wetland and across some of the last coffee still growing inside the city boundary. For a week spent mapping eleven growing regions, it is the right room.
Open in Google Maps −1.24999, 36.74314
Daily transfers
We run electric shuttle buses from Westgate Mall, Westlands, to the venue and back on each day of the event, departing every 30 minutes. There is no need to plan around a single departure: turn up at Westgate and you will wait half an hour at most, in either direction. Book accommodation within easy reach of Westgate and your logistics are solved for all three days. First and last runs to be confirmed.
Making your own way is straightforward too: 20–30 minutes from Westlands off-peak, and appreciably longer in rush hour.
Hotels
Where to stay
All but one of these sits in Westlands, within a short ride of the Westgate shuttle pickup. Rates are indicative for November and worth confirming direct with the property.
Upscale
Mid-range
Value
One for the UN delegations
If your trip also takes in the UN complex at Gigiri, the Trademark Hotel at Village Market (Limuru Road, from ~USD 200) puts you minutes from the compound. It is further from Westgate, roughly 15–20 minutes, so tell us and we will sort out your transfer.
Beyond hotels
Westlands and the neighborhoods around it have a deep supply of Airbnb listings and serviced furnished apartments. For anything longer than a few nights they often beat a hotel room on value, and a kitchen is welcome after three days of cupping. Write to info@coffeeflavormap.com and we will point you toward the buildings and blocks worth looking at.
Book early. November is high season in Nairobi and the better rooms in Westlands go first.
Around town
Moving through Nairobi
- Uber and Bolt cover the city comprehensively and cost a fraction of a hotel car. Most cross-town trips land between KES 400 and KES 1,200.
- Use the apps rather than flagging a street taxi, particularly after dark.
- Nairobi rewards ordinary city sense: keep phones off restaurant tables, do not walk unfamiliar streets at night, and take a car the short distance rather than walking it late.
- Build in buffer. Traffic is the one variable that will reliably beat your schedule.
Staying on
If you have days either side
November is the heart of Kenya's main crop harvest, which makes this an unusually good week to be in the country.
- Farms. Kiambu, Nyeri, Kirinyaga and Murang'a sit one to three hours from Nairobi and will be in full cherry. Tell us if you want to visit and we will help arrange it properly rather than leaving you to a gate.
- Safari. Nairobi National Park is twenty minutes from town and genuinely worth a morning. The Maasai Mara is a short hop from Wilson Airport.
- The coast. Lamu is an hour's flight from Nairobi. Shela Village is where Bahari Coffee is, and the door is open. Diani is the easier beach option if you want sand with less effort.
Checklist
Before you fly
Ticks are saved in this browser, so you can come back to this page and pick up where you left off.
Questions
Ask us anything this page missed
For help with farm visits, extended stays, or the right pass if you are working rather than attending, write to info@coffeeflavormap.com and we will sort it out. A day-of contact number will circulate closer to the event.