That morning at Keekorok airstrip
The bush plane is fifteen minutes late. Three elephants are crossing the strip. You have one bar of LTE, and you'd like to confirm with the lodge in Watamu that you're flying down tomorrow. The message goes through; the photos do not, until you're back at the lodge by lunchtime. That's Kenya in one paragraph: cellular reaches more places than people expect, just not all the time, and not at full speed. The right tariff acknowledges that. A "5 GB tourist pack" assumes you'll burn it on hotel Wi-Fi back-to-back; the actual safari day spends 200 MB at most.
Roamzy charges $7.37 per gigabyte in Kenya, billed at $0.0072 per megabyte in real time. No subscription, no expiry, no minimum bundle. One per-MB rate across 192 countries — that's the figure on the invoice, not a marketing line.
How much will Roamzy actually cost on this trip?
Realistic usage on a Kenya trip is 0.4–0.8 GB per day for a safari pattern. The bush eats less than you'd think; Nairobi and the coast eat more. Plan on 0.6 GB/day:
| Trip length | Roamzy ($7.37/GB) | Tourist roaming pass | Local SIM at JKIA/MBA |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 days (Nairobi + Mara) | $22.12 | $30–80 | $5–15 + KYC |
| 10 days (Mara + coast) | $44.24 | $60–140 | $8–20 + paperwork |
| 2 weeks (full circuit) | $61.93 | $80–180 (often two passes) | $12–25 + 30-day cap |
Competitor prices in columns 3 and 4 are 2025 ranges based on typical offerings; exact figures depend on your home carrier and the airport store you visit. Roamzy's rate in column 2 is our actual published rate from the pricing page.
A local Kenyan SIM is genuinely cheap, KYC takes about 20 minutes at the airport. For a longer working stay, it can pay off. For a one-week safari, the eSIM is the lighter call: scan before flying, attached at JKIA, Bolt opens in the taxi line.
Where does Roamzy work in this country?
- Nairobi (CBD, Westlands, Karen, Lavington) — 4G/5G across the city, working signal on most of the Nairobi Expressway, dense LTE on Mombasa Road
- Mombasa, Diani, Malindi — solid LTE in towns and resort strips; weaker on long beaches between settlements
- Maasai Mara — patchy. The major airstrips and lodge clusters have it; the deep bush is hit-or-miss
- Amboseli — better than the Mara at the gate and main camps; weaker on game drives
- Tsavo East and West — patchy, lodge-heavy
- Lamu archipelago — fine in Lamu town; weaker on outer islands and dhow trips
- Mount Kenya slopes — coverage to the lower camps, gone above the tree line
What will I actually use Roamzy for here?
- Bolt and Uber are dominant in Nairobi and Mombasa; both have English UIs
- WhatsApp is the default messaging channel for safari guides, lodge owners, and drivers in Kenya
- M-Pesa dominates local payment; foreign travelers usually pay in cash or card. Restaurants and chains take cards; bodas and small kiosks want cash or M-Pesa.
- Card payments work in cities and major chains; Kenyan shilling in cash leads in markets
- Camera-translator on Swahili is useful in regional towns; English is widely posted in Nairobi and tourist coast
How do I install my Roamzy eSIM?
| Plug type | Voltage | Frequency | iOS | Android |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type G | 240 V | 50 Hz | iPhone XS+ | Pixel 3+, Galaxy S20+ |
- Sign in to Roamzy via Telegram or Google
- Top up the eSIM with a minimum of 20 USDT — stablecoins, no cards, no banks, no FX surcharges
- The QR code appears in the dashboard once payment confirms
- Settings → Cellular → Add eSIM → scan QR
- The counter starts when you land at Jomo Kenyatta (JKIA) or Moi (MBA)
Supported stablecoins, networks, and common iPhone/Android setup errors are in the FAQ.
What are Roamzy's honest limitations?
- No welcome promo that flips on top-up #2. The rate stays $0.0072/MB.
- No fine-print throttling that surfaces in the middle of a game drive. One rate, billed by the megabyte.
- No auto-renewal you forgot to cancel. Balance runs out, the eSIM stops.
It's not a marketing gimmick — it's an engineering decision born from indifference to gimmicks. You can't make a tariff cheaper than no fine-print and no expiry — so we don't.
What if my trip continues across East Africa?
- Tanzania — Mara into Serengeti, very common safari extension
- Uganda — gorilla-trek extension via Entebbe
- If you want the underlying mechanics — how roaming actually gets priced and why it hurts