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Filming in Kenya

Kenya is traditionally known for a wide range of locations – beach, bush, mountain, jungle and desert – many of which still remain unfamiliar to international audiences.  And, because of Kenya’s tourist infrastructure, access and service is good and there is strong country wide internet and remote filming technology. Filming is supported within COVID government guidelines and there is no quarantine for foreign nationals.

Many don’t know that Kenya also serves as a production hub for servicing other East and West African countries, and with its diverse ethnic population, has often doubled for other African locations.

Downtown Nairobi is an exciting cityscapes to work in.  Netflix's sci-fi Sense8 series 1 and 2 shot large scale crowd and action scenes in the capital city.

Ridley Scott Creative Group Amsterdam recently completed Kipchoge: The Last Milestone a feature length documentary directed by Jake Scott about the record breaking Kenyan Olympic champion.

Crew rates and overall production costs are competitive, so even though no formal Tax Incentive in place, Kenya can be attractive to both large and small scale productions.

Filming in Kenya was a discovery. We set out to shoot an unfolding film about one athlete, in one particular location, and Kenyan locations and stories kept revealing themselves. We all had to adapt  at short notice because of new choices in front of us. The agility and abilities of the Kenyan crew was extraordinary. What struck me as rare, was there was an obvious pride in the creative coming first, with imaginative production solutions to things we could simply not have anticipated. We all can’t wait to go back.

Ross Plummer, MD Ridley Scott Creative Group

Climate

Kenya’s coastline enjoys a tropical climate with high springtime humidity and the coastal town of Mombasa has mean annual temperatures of between 22C and 30C.

Monsoon winds moderate the humidity slightly during the spring. Conditions in the lowlands are dry and hot, while temperatures in the highlands fall again and have more distinct seasons.

Temperatures in Nairobi can fall to 13C due to its altitude. Rainfall occurs most regularly in the spring months and then in the early autumn as a result of the two monsoon seasons, although the northern regions tend to get less than elsewhere in the country.

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