Can a Tourist get MPESA?

When our family arrived in Kenya we saw signs everywhere for MPESA. Jon has worked hard at learning and managing international finances, which you can read about here, but MPESA was new. MPESA is a cell-phone-based payment system that can operate using SMS (text) messages. Data signals may be spotty, but everywhere in Kenya has basic cell coverage, which means that by using MPESA, you always have access to pay for goods and services.

Does a tourist need MPESA?

It can be frustrating in Africa that power outages happen all the time and credit cards may or not be accepted. Even at places that “accept” cards, no power or poor cellular data service can take away that option. You may not be keen to carry large amounts of cash around Africa. Good news: literally everywhere takes MPESA. Tuk-tuk drivers, souvenir hawkers, coconut water salesmen, and roadside fruit stands, all the way to grocery stores and medical tests. Even the church we attended (and loved!) gives members an option to tithe and give via MPESA.

However, by using a combination of our Schwab ATM card, Capital One Venture, and keeping cash on hand, we didn’t see a need for MPESA. We also had heard it can be hard for a tourist to get MPESA. That is, until we found out it is the ONLY way to purchase train tickets online.

Why we set-up MPESA

We decided to return to Nairobi from Diani Beach via train: the Mandaraka Express (SGR). Read about the transit options between Diani and Nairobi here. SGR tickets can ONLY be purchased online using MPESA, and it was not feasible for us to go buy tickets at the station using cash (a 2-hour taxi away), AND the tickets can sell out. We needed to catch the SGR, so Jon had to get MPESA.

The bad news? You can ONLY use MPESA if you have a Safaricom SIM-card! So Jon went to a Safaricom store in Diani Beach. It is directly above Carrefour. Good news: as a tourist, you can definitely get Safaricom. Pro tip: you must bring your physical passport! There was a decent line but it only took about 15 minutes to get started. An agent helped Jon to get set up, and it cost about $11. That included the SIM card, 400 minutes, 2000 text messages, and 5GB of data. It is free to set up the MPESA account, which the agent helped complete.

Nairobi is the gateway to traveling on to the Masai Mara!

Using an International SIM Card

Jon didn’t feel great about putting the Safaricom SIM into his Samsung Note 8. Google Fi already allows his phone to work all over the world, and our entire financial world is connected through that phone. So, we had brought older phones along, and the SIM worked fine for messaging and MPESA in my very old, factory reset Samsung Mini 4.

If you travel outside the USA frequently, Google Fi is a game-changer. We only pay $70/month for worldwide unlimited data and messaging, cheap phone calls, and it works literally everywhere. Through 17 countries so far, every time Jon has needed his phone, it works. Save some money by signing up here.

Loading, or “Topping up”  MPESA

At the Safaricom shop, you are required to have your physical passport to add cash onto MPESA at Safaricom. Here’s how it works: 

• Open up the Safaricom MPESA app (my phone automatically had it after restarting with the SIM)
• Give your MPESA number to the agent
• Give the amount of cash you want to be added to the agent
• Wait for a few seconds to confirm that the transaction goes through

We found out later that you “top up” at basically any place advertising MPESA (like literally everywhere).  Even small fruit stands can top off your funds, just make sure to have the phone with the Safaricom SIM with you. That way, you get the text message confirming the fund transfer almost instantaneously after handing over the cash to make sure you don’t get ripped off.

One problem Jon did find is that it is very hard (and expensive) for a foreigner to load money to MPESA digitally. Unless you have a Kenyan bank account, you cannot directly move money. Jon did set up a Kenyan PayPal account, which can be linked, but after seeing the fees for moving money it was not worth doing. Just plan to use cash to top up MPESA.

Masai Mara, Kenya

Using MPESA

To make a purchase, open the MPESA app or the Safaricom app that has MPESA embedded. The merchant will have a “Pay Bill” number that you input on your phone, followed by the amount of money you want to send. Both payor and payee get nearly immediate confirmation, which is pretty cool. It takes away the need for carrying cash and credit card machines, which makes it so popular around Kenya.

We ended up only using it for SGR tickets, because there is a slight cost amount for each purchase transaction, and it wasn’t always clear how much that would be. For example, the 3,000 KES purchase for our 4 economy SGR tickets actually cost 3,078 KES. Now, that’s no big deal to pay the equivalent of $.60 for the ability to purchase the tickets. However, if you load the exact amount onto MPESA, you can’t cover that small amount. Therefore, pro-tip: add slightly more than you need before a transaction like an SGR ticket purchase.

Can a tourist get MPESA? Yes. Do you have to? No.

At the end of our time in Kenya (6 weeks!) we actually only used MPESA a single time: for the SGR tickets. Jon did like, and used, having the ability to send and receive local text messages on the older phone with the Safaricom SIM. However, if you have great cellular coverage like Google Fi for worldwide travel, and you don’t have to constantly buy new SIM cards for each coverage area, you should be fine in Kenya without MPESA. However, we did enjoy and recommend using the SGR for transit between Nairobi and Mombasa. So, if you decide to go for it, follow these simple steps and it should be easier for you.

See our other articles for traveling to Kenya here: safari on the masai mara with kids, travel to Kenya during Covid, how expensive in Diani Beach, top 5 activities in Diani Beach with kids, getting from Nairobi to Diani Beach, and how tourists can use MPESA.

Kenya was one of our stops during a year-long trip around the world!  To see all our travel adventures, head over to our Instagram page.

If you have questions or tips for how can a tourist get MPESA, let us know!