Additional Context: The Kenya Wildlife Service, or KWS, had maintained tourist fees for access to national parks, which met about 80% of the organization's needs, for 18 years. The new pricing structure was implemented October 1, 2025.

The new structure includes tiered fees that will increase prices by 50–60% for non-residents and up to 50% for citizens and residents, differentiated by park category (premium, wilderness, urban safari, marine, etc.) and visitor type (East African citizens, foreign residents, international tourists, children/students), collected via the existing cashless eCitizen platform. The stated aim of the new policy is to make the KWS fully self-reliant and insulate it from donor dependency, including the effects of "changes in the foreign policies [of donors] like the withdrawal of funding to African Countries."

Devex Researcher Note: The policy document notes a funding shortfall of about 10 billion Kenyan Shillings, or $77.3 million. From the U.S., the KWS would have received, between 2018 and 2027, at least $4.95 million directly for activities combatting wildlife tracking, with an additional $7.8 million provided between 2022 and 2027 to the International Fund for Animal Welfare to scale-up conservation efforts in the Amboseli and Tsavo ecosystems. While such cuts represent a relatively small percentage of funding needs, they are noted as a trigger for the change in financial strategy.

Source: Kenya Wildlife Service