Emergency numbers and help in Kenya

The numbers

• 999 and 112 both work and reach the same operators. Response times vary enormously.
• Private ambulance services are what people actually call in Nairobi, and hotels have their numbers.
• On safari, your camp radios its operator and your evacuation cover does the rest. There is no ambulance coming to the Mara.
• Give your camp your insurer's number on arrival, not when something happens.

If something goes wrong

• Theft: report it at the nearest police station and insist on an abstract, the written report insurers require. It may carry a small fee.
• A lost passport means the police abstract first, then your embassy in Nairobi.
• In a road accident, do not move the vehicles and call the police; crowds gather quickly and leaving the scene is worse.
• If you are robbed, hand it over. Nothing you are carrying is worth a fight.

Worth saving now

• Your insurer's 24-hour assistance line and policy number.
• AMREF Flying Doctors' control centre, if you have their cover.
• Your embassy in Nairobi, most of which are in Gigiri or Upper Hill.
• Your safari operator's out-of-hours number, which is the one that answers.
• Kenya's country code is +254, and mobile numbers start 07 or 01.