Has anyone been to Kenya recently?

[Lamu]

Foreign office advises against non essential travel there. Where as friends who live there say the situation isn't as bad as it's been made out. I'd love to go in February next year but I'm really undecided, esp. with two little ones.

Well my mum lived there for five years until March this year, and she left very quickly in the end deciding it wasn't safe to stay there. Her friend is still there as she's trying to sell her home, and they were discussing a picture of a dead body laid in a street that another friend had posted on her Facebook wall, and the people in Kenya said they'd become immune to seeing sights like that now.

So I wouldn't be going to Kenya in a hurry and I wouldn't be taking my little ones with me.

Hmm that's what I worry about. Do you mind me asking where your mum lived? We usually have several nights in Nairobi before heading to the coast.

I would be happy enough to go. But wouldn't like to put DH and Dd's in a dangerous position.

Mum was in Mtwapi, on the coast - not that far from Mombassa really. She didn't live in a touristy area, but in her last year there, her and dad only went to the beach and the shops, they didn't feel comfortable at all leaving the safety of their compound. They also had big dogs in the garden to guard them. Not a great way to live to be honest.

I was in Nairobi last month and it was fine. The advice is not a blanket against non essential travel but only for certain areas, however that does include Lamu.

I was staying just off Mombassa Road with my ex and our DD. He has friends in the Kenya Defence Force and none of them felt we would be in danger. I lived there and have been back a few times since and have never felt in danger.

I'm here with work temporarily, my family came to visit and we had an amazing holiday in the Massai Mara and Nairobi. The Mara in particular is low risk and even in Nairobi only certain areas are no go - and they are not the kind of places you go anyway. Living behind barbed wire walls with guard dogs and safe havens seems to be standard living for expats and wealthy Kenyans.

But travel to the coast is really not recommended and I wouldn't do it. In any case, my work would not clear it. I've met people who have gone and they say they were fine but there is a lot of unrest there and a fear it will get worse.

I live in Kenya, and I would say it's fine. We live in Nairobi (which is pretty safe and not a no-go on the travel advisory) and just came back from Malindi on the north coast, which was fabulous, and there were lots of people there, both local expats and tourists. My feeling is that I would avoid Mombasa, as there have been a couple of shooting incidents there in the old city, but the coastal areas, at least the touristy coastal areas, are quite safe, I believe. I say that partly because the recent shootings up north in Lamu county were in part related to a major land dispute, and probably involved disaffected locals teaming up with al-Shabaab types. I don't think it was a terrorism incident in the classic sense of the word. And people we spoke to down there seemed unconcerned. I'm not saying it's absolutely safe, but I think the view here is that it's a lot safer than made out to be. And I never worried about taking two kids down there. Hope that helps and isn't too confusing!

Places just north of Mombassa, like Watamu and Malindi, are fine (wonderful in fact).
Just stay clear of Lamu and Mombassa and you will be fine.