With the arrival of the high season and the consequent influx of thousands of tourists, Kenya is preparing to see many more vehicles on its roads, which are not always the epitome of safety and passability.

Suffice it to say that the only so-called highway, the artery that connects the capital Nairobi to Mombasa, the country's port hub and second city, for 90% of its route has only two lanes, with long stretches of continuous strip and (alleged) impossibility of overtaking, with the presence of articulated trucks, especially those transporting containers even to Uganda, which often do not exceed 50 km/h.

The roads in the south of the country are all like this, except for a few kilometres around Mombasa and a section of the Mombasa-Malindi. In the north, on the other hand, the roads linking the capital to Thika and going to Nanyuki, below Mount Kenya, for 150 kilometres have already been doubled and promise to get there, as is the idea of the Nairobi-Naivasha-Nakuru in the Rift Valley.

But for now the whole of Kenya is precarious, from the point of view of the road network, if one considers that still 70 per cent of the connections are on dirt roads, if not barely practicable without off-road vehicles.

On these roads, matatu, trucks, motorbike taxis (the famous boda-bodas), tuk-tuks, old cars and super-new models, cattle wagons and mkokoteni (rickshaws pulled by men for transporting various materials) circulate simultaneously and often frantically and anarchically. They are traversed and crossed by goats, cows, donkeys and sometimes elephants and other savannah animals.

On the other hand, those who are in charge of directing traffic and regulating it, between speed limits and other infractions, licences and the regularity of vehicles, often allow themselves to be overwhelmed by the habits of one of the most corrupt countries in Africa, where above all the practice of bribes instead of fines has always been widespread, and it is often the drivers themselves who take advantage of this.

The dangers for those on the road during this period increase and it is often not enough to keep one's eyes open, especially when it is a driver who is driving.

Yesterday, the first accident of the season involving foreign tourists on Kenyan roads involved a group of Polish travellers who were travelling from Diani in the direction of the entrance to Tsavo East and West National Parks. Near the town of Mariakani, on the aforementioned Mombasa-Nairobi highway, an overtaking truck hit the van in which seven of them were travelling.

Two of them unfortunately died on impact, while their companions and the other three occupants of the van, including the driver, were admitted to the nearest hospital, waiting to be transferred to Mombasa.

According to local media reports, the driver of the truck, who probably made a reckless overtaking manoeuvre, fled immediately after the accident.

This is just one example that will hopefully remain isolated in the context of safaris, airport transfers and other tourist journeys.

There are, however, cautions to be observed, by those who rely on drivers, tour operators or supposedly so (as in the case of the beach boys, who are not all licensed, regularly licensed and above all experienced travel agents).

First and foremost, ask who your driver will be, how long he or she has had a licence and whether he or she is certified as an experienced guide for safaris, for example.

Ditto for the safari agencies, better to know if they are regular, better if they are registered with KATO (the Tour Operators Association). There are currently 351 agencies that meet all the requirements to be registered with KATO.

Here is the complete list: https://katokenya.org/kato-members-directory/

Finally, don't take anything for granted, Africa is full of surprises and not only good ones.

If you rent a vehicle in Kenya, for example, make sure that therental car is properly registered and insured, as well as equipped with a spare wheel, jack and spanner.

The rental agency should provide you with the necessary documentation, including a copy of the registration book showing the chassis number, proof of insurance and vehicle registration.

If it is not an agency but an individual who rents it to you, ask (with proof) whether it is a vehicle registered for hire or simply a private car. In the latter case, the insurance taken out by the owner probably does not cover accidents caused by a third party driver, nor those caused by others if the driver is not the owner (given the fact that national car insurance taken out by Kenyans is quite random). The same goes for motorbikes, which in addition must have a road tax paid.

For the rest, respect and make drivers respect the rules of the road.

There are other things that my 35 years of African experience could tell you. For this I refer you to one of my upcoming video tutorials on the ‘Italians in Kenya’ YouTube channel.