See Kibera With A Non-profit Leader

Just one word: GO! I can’t recommend this tour highly enough. It was fascinating to get an insider, hands-on look at the resilience of the Kibera settlement with a very knowledgeable guide, Alex, later joined by bonus guide Vincent who both live in the community. We took a matatu (shared van) to Kibera, then walked through neighborhoods where we toured a local school, a contemporary art gallery cooperative, and an artisan bone carving workshop. Highlights were a mid-walk snack made by Vincent’s mom in her kitchen, and a visit inside a local family’s home in the informal settlement. The tour ended on the roof of the new primary school extension for a panoramic view of Kibera. Your modest tour fee supports the community development work of the Seed Foundation, including the new school building for the local kids and school breakfasts and lunches. Kibera is both heartbreaking and inspiring but going there with a local resident guide is a life-changing experience. Wear good walking shoes and enjoy the adventure.

This Tour was an Eye opener. Vincent my guide was very knowledgeable and explained a lot of things in Kibera. I felt very safe throughout. There’s fair bit of walking through very narrow alleys Vincent was very helpful to make sure I was fine. I would definitely recommend this tour to anyone who has interest in reality of this world

Very interesting and enlightening tour on life in the Kibera slum. We felt completely safe and even welcomed by the people we encountered on our walk. The tour finished at the SEED foundation primary school where we met some of the teachers and children, who performed songs for us in one of the rooms. Booking this tour ensures that money goes back into the local community.

If you are worried about safety forget it. This is very safe and nearly everyone greets you with a smile. If you want an experience you won’t forget book this tour. Vincent was my guide and he has lived his entire life in Kibera. This experience is so impactful. If you are fit you will go places other tours don’t go. However they will tailor the tour to your physical abilities. And part of the money goes to the school. I highly recommend this tour if you want to learn how this community of people make it work and what they are up against. You won’t regret it.

Best experience in Nairobi. thank you so much for this possibility. everyone should go to Kibera to discover this reality. the place is super-safe and people are amazing. Kibera will be in our hearts forever.

My son and I visited the Kibera slum, and it was a very eye-opening experience. We hadn’t really planned on the trip, but are very thankful that we took the time to do it. It was done in a very tasteful and respectful way, and we always felt safe. I highly recommend it if you are open minded and would like to see a very different side of Nairobi.

After seeing documentaries about Kibera, it was not a question for me whether to go. I felt safe as a single female with Vincent, my guide. We visited a local business make bone jewellery, a local house and the Seed School. The children were very well-behaved and looked happy. They performed an amazing song full of community spirit and much talent. The teachers are doing a great job! While life must be very hard here, people take pride in their appearance, and look neat and clean, and very polite. I had a great experience and a great walk. I would recommend it to anyone visiting Nairobi.

We walked thru the slum with 2 guilds who were grown up in the slum. The 3 hour tour showed us the business, live, education, medical situations of the slum. We learned the detailed first hand info from the slum’s residents. The tour is safe and it is a n once of lifetime experience.

We had an amazing and eye opening tour of Kibera. Not to be missed, these guys are doing amazing things and share their true experiences of a challenging but open community. Absolutely worth every dollar, that goes back into the school for the young children.

The visit to The Seed School, the walk through the houses, shops, and churches, and the bone jewelry place.

The whole tour was amazing. The guides were absolutely the best from the moment we got into the car. We can only recommend this tour

The tour was a very special experience and my kids (6,4) took actively part when we visited the local school. It was all very well organized and interesting to see the various projects going on. Definitely a MUST while in Nairobi!!

The non-profit teachers were knowledgeable, made us feel safe and comfortable. The tour is a walking tour for 3 hours so please keep that in mind.

Knowledgable, informative, taken around by two locals. Felt safe. Walked around for couple of hours, shown school project.

Wonderful tour. Kibera in an incredible place and you really need a good guide to understand the complexities. The work you support with this company is important to the locals as well. Very informative and they can really customize the tour to your needs.

I did this tour solo initially as a way to kill half a day in Nairobi and this became the highlight of my trip. Benta took me on a walk through the slums and to her primary school in what was a truly educational, shocking and humbling exoerience. Seeing residents with so little remain happy and willing to work for their community is at first hard to comprehend, and leaves you both happy and sad. I truly learnt so much from someone who grew up in and experienes Kibera daily. I cant thank Benta enough for the time she spent showing me her home and work place, sharing her story and that of others will stay with me for a long time. For anyone in Nairobi, I would truly confider booking tickrrd

Good experience to get to see Kibera by foot. We got picked up at our place and dropped off there as well. We were two people and had two tour guides with us the whole time. We felt very safe during the entire walk and it was great to get to see Kibera through the eyes of the locals. At the end of the walk we got to visit the seed school and see the good work that they do there.

I and two others had an excellent walking tour with Winnie, who is a resident of Kibera. The tour included a visit to the slum's public bathroom, Winnie's house and the tiny school room (to name a few of the sites). Winnie was gracious and informative. The slum's residents must be used to seeing Westerners trotting about, and I felt completely safe.

an inspiring and memorable trip to understand the struggles of the slum community and how education provided by the community gives hopes to the children there. Defeinitely worth a visit!

It was so interesting.we did the tour with our children. A must see!!! The Organisation is running a school for poor children.

I strongly reccomend to do this tour. It has been an experience I will repeat soon that will explain the unknown Nairobi.

I really recommend people to apply for the tour. You will face the reality of the people in the slums that you should know. Brian was a great guide explaining the history and stories of all sites and answering all questions I raised.

I had a guided walk in the slum for ~2 hours with Padox and Brian from the Seed Foundation. No specially planned activities (except for a dance by the teacher and some students from Seed Foundation's school), but a genuine walk through of the community. Brian is a teacher in Seed Foundation's school, and one can tell he has very strong bonding with the community and his students. I have learnt so much about the history of and daily lives in the slum. A highly recommended tour if you want to have a more in-depth understanding of the country beyond the safaris.

Booked the tour via viator and Paddox + a female teacher from the school picked us up from the hotel and guided us through kibera, the biggest slum community in Africa. They used to/are currently living there and work at the school that they have built in kibera. This tour is a mix of walking the streets of kibera + visit to the school. It is inspiring to see how they have supported the community and the children there. The kids are lively, very polite and enjoy dancing! Bring along some things to give to the children while you are there :)

This was a wonderful experience, we learned so much! Our guide we’re very friendly and, we loved visiting the seed school where the children gave us a special performance, and our daughter got to hang with some of the other children, a very special experience

Nothing to fear when in the hands of Padox - he picked us up from our hotel in Nairobi and guided us around Kibera and we felt safe the whole time. He explained the history of the area, current living conditions, his own story and how and why he started his foundation. Be sure to check out SEED Foundation and School. If you're visiting, would be worthwhile setting aside a few hours to go on an early morning tour with Padox - you'll get to visit his school and the children who attend. They put on a great show for us - very talented dancers. If you do visit, try to bring useful treats for them - we brought notebooks and pens (not sure if they were enough) - but hopefully useful! The kids we met ranged from around 7 - 15 in age and loved music and dancing - so anything cool from your home country you could bring to share with them would be great! Cool dance clothes, accessories, music - anything to help with their creativity. We did feel a bit apprehensive at first, but once you meet Padox and we also met Brian (one of the school teachers who also guided us) - nothing to fear - noone bothered us and everyone was very friendly. Truly eye-opening and please visit if you can!! Thank you Padox and Brian and SEED school for having us as your guests!! We will keep in touch and looking forward to the launch of your website!

Great cause and experience with excellent guides! Thank you! Would recommend everyone to do it!!!!!!

The tour was organized by Padox and conducted by Samuel, both residents of Kibera. Overall it was a fantastic experience that lets you see life in one of the areas of Nairobi that tourists seldom visit. The community was lively, friendly and extremely welcoming. We visited local shops, a community football game, and areas of development and construction. You can truly see the impact of various government and non-government activities in the region. Padox introduced me to the SEED Foundation education program in great detail, including funding and operations. It was an insightful look at a very local nonprofit organization in the region. One complaint is that the price was a bit higher than other similar tours, but it was a great experience nevertheless.

It was really perfect and felt very save, even if I was alone. If you want a really genuine experience book the tour. There wasn't any point where I felt wrong and I glad I did even if originally thought it would be a bit unfriendly to the people who live in kibera to do a "slum tour". In the end everybody was nice to me and I don't want to miss the things I have experienced there.

What an amazing experience for myself and my 4 year old son. We were welcomed into the community and the school with open arms. We were completely safe at all times and they were incredibly flexible to the fact that my son has a short attention span and that I wasn’t feeling that day. It was the best experience of our time in Kenya.

A very informative and enjoyable morning with Padox, Musa and Jack. Seed is a grass roots Foundation offering primary schooling and a feeding program. The children delightfully performed song and dance. Jack and Musa are testament to the value and success of the program. There was absolutely no pressure but clearly our support is needed

amazing walk with freddie and willie through the city of kibera. so much information, so many meetings, a high light from our trip to kenya. my best recommendations.

It's really so wonderful to meet the locals in Kibera, especially the kids at SEED school. They looked happy healthy and most importantly, they had hope in their eyes. Which fills my heart with joy after seeing the street kids downtown a day ago. Padox, Sylvester and Musa are the nicest ppl around. They were well spoken and caring, sincere and genuine, they share with such an open heart and mind; not a moment I felt my safety was threatened or that anyone was trying to cheat me of any money to buy things or to "buy sodas" (which was my experience a day ago). Kibera is beautiful, inside and out. The ppl are the most special, I deeply respect them and it was almost touching how warmly they receive visitors. Especially the kids, they will melt your hearts! The performance at the school ended with us all dancing together and I was so happy to drum for them while they dance too, it has to be the most special moment of my trip. tldr: UNMISSABLE. A trip to Kenya without experiencing the magic of Kibera is a mistake. JUST BOOK WITH PADOX ALREADY.

I would not have visited Kibera with any other organisation apart from the SEED Foundation, because of their work there, and it was absolutely the right decision. I was on my own but felt I was not intruding on the community as I was with Padox who has lived there all his life. He gave me a detailed narrative as we walked around the formal and informal areas of Kibera, and the challenges faced by the people who live there and how they overcome them. He also showed me the school and the work he and his helpers do and his home, which is also there, and I met his family. It was a privilege to be shown around by Padox and support his foundation with the trip and extra donation.

Padox and Sammy were so kind and wonderful. Padox met me at yaya center and we took the bus together to Kibera. We walked through Kibera's formal and informal communities, talking about the origins of the settlement and the distinctions between the two, then wandered through the various zones of Kibera to the Seed Foundation school. No kids or lessons on a Saturday but still great to see. There is so much vibrancy resilience and creativity here - very inspiring. Asante sana!

Spending time with Padox, Jackton, Sylvester and Moses was the best part of my time in Nairobi. I never felt like an intruder; I felt like a welcomed guest. Their passion for helping the Kibera community is contagious - may we all work as hard as they do to help those around us with the resources we have. If you have an interest in human stories and meeting some inspiring people, join Padox and his volunteers for an eye-opening and pleasant morning in Kibera! I felt completely safe and welcomed as a woman travelling solo. Most of the photos I'm posting were taking by Jackton, Sylvester and Moses using my camera.

We were interested in experiencing Kibera with our family (and another family that we were traveling with) but didn't want to just walk through the area, take pictures and gawk. The eight of us (4 adults, 4 children) were wonderfully greeted by Padox and the Seed School volunteers (players from the local Kibera Lexus soccer team) who kept a close eye on all of us, never allowing us to feel unsafe. Any apprehension we had (where to find the guide and non-profit leader Padox, what it would be like for the children, how we'd manage the donations we brought along, etc.) were immediately put aside upon meeting the group that took care of us. The visit to Seed school was amazing. The caring nature of the teachers, the gratitude for the gifts we brought and the reception that included some dancing and singing - which we jumped in to participate with - was unexpected and wonderful. Clearly the sights, sounds, smells and reality of Kibera are not for everyone, but this trip was meaningful and exactly what we wanted. It left an impression that will stay with us, and with our children, for a long time, I sense. Padox, the school and tour leader, was not accustomed to having children of the ages of our crowd (9-13) visit and he was very open to asking if they were OK, if the trip would be too long, and the guys on hand to help out were amazing. The length and difficulty (not very) was fine for our children, however, and would be for most. For those seeking to understand the realities of the city and life in Kibera, I would highly recommend this visit.

I was hesitant to visit Kibera because I did not want to do it in a way that was offensive. Padox and his two volunteers allowed me to get to know Kibera in a way that was more educational than anything else, and I deeply appreciated the opportunity to learn more about a community that is so different than my own. Padox is a lifelong resident of Kibera, and he is the founder of the SEED Foundation, which is providing children with an education and ensuring they have more than one meal a day. To begin, Padox met me at a local mall and we took public transportation to Kibera. While walking around, Padox and his two volunteers shared their stories and gave me a glimpse into what it is like to grow up in this community. We visited the SEED School where I was able to meet the children and their teachers and watch a performance. We also stopped by the Power Women Shop, which supports women who are HIV positive. Refreshments were provided along the way. At the end, Padox brought me back to the mall. Life in Kibera is tough, but the people are resilient. I am thankful to Padox for spending time with me, and I was happy to support his foundation in the process.

My wife, sister-in-law and I traveled to Kenya for the first time in 2011 and spent over a week with Padox, much of it in Kibera. As three white professionals, we have never known poverty or oppression, though we all work in professions that has us interacting with people who do on a daily basis. We were overwhelmed at points but Padox was the perfect person to help us through this important and powerful experience. Padox was a wonderful guide, introducing us to the communities within Kibera, informing us about the history and present-day experiences of Kenyans. We got to meet people who encountered challenges in their circumstances but were working hard to overcome their situations. We visited the Seed Junior Academy, Senye Medical Clinic (the only one to stay open during the 2007 post-election violence) and Victorious Bones Craft among many others. It was amazing to meet the industrious Kenyans who were making their own way and offering help to their neighbours. There is incredible poverty in Kibera; many of its residents are the people who make less than $1 a day. However, we did not encounter a single person begging. They all were active in ways of making a living as best as they could. Padox was always mindful of our experience, asking if we needed to take a break (some days were difficult from things we saw and heard), that we felt safe and always wanted to educate us and empower his community. He is kind, compassionate, intelligent and inquisitive (he wanted to know a lot about life in Canada). Thanks to his work, we developed ongoing relationships with some people in Kibera that have carried on to this day. Asante sana (thank you)! There are a lot of problems with 'slum tourism' - wealthy people who want to come into impoverished areas and take photos with people in need. Kibera Tours offer education into real life in Kibera and opportunity to change your mind and life through interactions with real people. We will never be the same, thanks to Padox and Kibera Tours. You will not regret this!

We visited the Kibera -slum area with very sympatic Willy guide. The three market areas; clothing, grosery and furniture were things to see. The most interesting thing was to hear storys and info from Willy with local experience about the everyday life in slum!

We did the Tour with Elija and Willy and it was great! Best Tour we had in Nairobi, everytime again! Interessting, funny and really good guys. We just loved it! Asante sana for the Tour. Super interessante Tour durch Nairobis Slums. Kann Kibera-Tours nur weiterempfehlen, es war wirklich die beste Tour die wir in Nairobi hatten und Elija und Willy waren super Tourguides. Ein Muss wenn man in Nairobi ist.

Elijah and Winnie guided us through the slum and gave us another look on Kibera. Kibera's kids were very friendly and we were given a thorough explanation of the whole situation there. A day which we will always remember! Would strongly advice you to go there.

An incredible experience. We initially felt a little unsure about taking a tour of Kibera, as we didn't want to be perceived as wealthy tourists "gawking" at the slum, but we needn't have worried. Our guides, Lucas and Elijah (both Kibera locals) made us feel at home in this place that was completely different to anything we'd experienced before. The tour consisted of about three hours of walking through the dirt streets of Kibera, surrounded by shacks of corrugated iron and bustling, vibrant, beautiful people as far as the eye could see. Along the way we paid visits to some very special local businesses and spent some time with some Kibera youngsters. Our guides imparted their inside knowledge through informal and personal conversation rather than through formal spiels, and the tour was all the more engaging because of that. What we enjoyed most was the visions and dreams our guides had for the future of Kibera; this small company is raising money to open a new skills-based school in the slum, which will aim to develop childrens' individual talents and interests in the hope of carving them a path out of poverty. We could not recommend this company more highly; we left not only with new knowledge about this important place, but with two new friends as well. Thank you Lucas and Elijah for a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

The tour guides were great and answered all questions. They are residence of Kibera and shared their experience with us as well as their hopes for the children of Kibera. A very interesting visit and a must see in Nairobi!

Kibera is probably the largest slum in Africa, well known by the movie "The silent gardener". The guys from Kibera Tours, residents in Kibera, organize a friendly, informative and perfectly safe visit. Don't miss it if you are in Nairobi.

We hired motor bikes and riders to take us to kibera . Organised tours charge too much . We saw enough riding through the streets and stopped for a few moments here and there. You can visit some of the projects where people are making goods or trying to make a difference, but they do charge for these tours . It is unsafe to travel into kibera without a guide . Talking to locals you really hear the real stories.

The Kibera tour with two local guides was an excellent experience. It was very enlightening as well as very sad to experience the poverty of the Kibera slum first hand. Overwhelming to see how people living in such poverty remain so positive about live and welcome strangers to their homes. The Kibera Tour is well worth it and you will not feel like a tourist doing poverty tourism. Please make sure to bring plenty of change to support local start-ups, schools and the guides!

The tour leans heavily towards stops where you feel pressured to buy souvenirs, donations (with no way of seeing where the money actually goes) and guides repeatedly telling you that they only receive 500 ksh for the tour and the rest of the money going to Freddy the organiser. The tour costs US$25 per person. If the information from the guides is true, Freddy is fleecing his staff. If it isn't, the guides are feeding a line to their groups to hope guilt or sympathy leads to large extra tips. The bead factory felt like a high pressure commercial sales pitch stop, however the womens AIDS refuge felt genuine and humbling. The orphanage was a strange experience, and the final stop at a "real Kibera home" was and element of the tour I'd been most looking forward to, but turned out to be an unlived in display home, set up with multiple tip jars and details of bank accounts for transfer of donations. I strongly recommend visitors to Nairobi go to Kibera to get a sense of the conditions and inequity, just not with this tour group.

Very interesting walking tour in the Kibera neighborhood: the markets, shops and projects, residential areas. Highly recommended.