Learning Swahili from the Locals in the Masai Mara in Kenya

Learning Swahili from the locals in the Masai Mara was a really fun part of our Kenya experience. Every person we met made an effort to teach us a word or two of Swahili, the local language. Imagine how much better we’d all communicate with each other if that enthusiasm for sharing local languages was global.

We’ve really loved our time in the Masai Mara in Kenya. While going on safari for wildlife spotting to see ‘The Big Five’, including the elusive leopards, and to get a glimpse of the Great Migration has been an incredible part of our trip, learning a little Swahili from the locals has been loads of fun.

Unlike in many countries where hotel staff and tour guides speak to tourists in English, the increasingly universal language, and most Kenyans speak English, almost all the Kenyans we’ve met have made an effort to teach us and other travellers some Swahili.

“Jambo! (Hello!),” the security guy cheerfully calls out to us as we hurry down the path to our Masai Mara hotel restaurant. “Jambo!” we both respond. Everyone from the Masai warrior with whom we did a nature walk to the Masai Mara villagers we met on a cultural tour attempted to teach us some Swahili.

Learning Swahili from the Locals in the Masai Mara in Kenya

“Jambo!” the waitress at the Sarova Mara restaurant says with a smile, pulling out my chair as we sit down at the table for dinner.

“Jambo!” I reply. “And, um… asante sana…?”

“Karibou (you’re welcome),” she answers with an even bigger smile, pleased that after two nights at the Sarova Mara I’ve finally remembered how to say ‘thank you’.

“Can you stop here?” we ask our safari guide, Edward, the next day, on one of our many game drives.

“Hakuna matata! No problem!” Edward says, grinning.

“Are you ready to move on?” Edward asks us a few minutes later, when we’ve finished taking photos.

“Sure. Thanks!” we say.

But Edward doesn’t move on. Instead, he looks at us in the rear vision mirror… waiting for a reply in Swahili.

“Oh… sawa, sawa (sure/okay),” I say.

“Sawa, sawa!” he acknowledges, with a warm smile.

Compared to the other languages we’ve attempted to learn in other destinations we’ve settled into for two weeks a time so far on our yearlong grand tour, learning Swahili in Kenya has been a breeze.

And it hasn’t been through any efforts of our own to learn the language, even though learning a little of the local language in each place we travelled to was a goal of this yearlong project. It’s the locals who have made it such a joy.

Normally, as soon as we arrive in a place, I research local language classes and buy a phrasebook and dictionary. Sometimes we use other language learning resources. In Italy, we used the funky Earworms CD. In Ceret, I sat in on a French language class. In Buenos Aires I did a crash course to practice all the Spanish I’d forgotten since our last trip.

But I didn’t even think about buying a phrase book in Kenya. I was under two misconceptions: firstly, that most Kenyans speak English, and secondly, that Swahili would be way too difficult to learn. I couldn’t have been more wrong on both accounts.

Little did I realise, but every single person we would meet in Kenya would happily serve as our language teacher. I am not exaggerating when I say that everyone we have met has greeted us with ‘Jambo!’

Kenyans’ eagerness for teaching foreigners simple greetings and basic vocabulary – ndio (yes), la (no), haraka (hurry), poli poli (slowly, slowly) and so on – and their insistence that foreigners speak to them in Swahili, made learning Swahili one of the easiest languages I’ve ever learned. Without even trying to learn!

By the end of our two weeks in Kenya, I had a dozen greetings and common phrases that I was using on a daily basis and another 20 words I had jotted down in my notebook. Imagine if I had actually done some study.

It made me wonder why more people around the globe don’t help visitors to their countries learn their language this way?

In our experience, most hotel staff or staff at tourist sights will speak to a native English speaker in English if they can.

In most places, there doesn’t seem to be an expectation that English speakers should learn the language of the country they’re visiting. Or that locals should help them.

Why is that do you think? I like the Kenyans’ attitude. I know I’m going to take the same language learning approach from now on. What about you?

For more language learning tips, see these posts on Tips for Learning Languages When You Travel from Buenos Aires, Learning the Moroccan Language in Morocco: French or Arabic and Tips to Learning Languages During Lockdown which really apply any time.