Keeping a Yacht in Kenya

A club culture with room to grow

Kilifi Creek's boatyard is the main haul-out and maintenance location on this coast, sitting inside the Kilifi Yacht Club grounds with a clubhouse and food and beverage facilities on site. There is no large-scale refit capacity here comparable to Cape Town, and crew tends to be sourced locally and informally rather than through international crew agencies.

The clearest sign of room to grow is the Kenya Ports Authority's planned development at Mtwapa Creek, where La Marina jetty already serves as a landing site for smaller yachts and calm-water sunset cruises. KPA has planned an artisanal fishing port there with added small-scale marina berths, a signal of formal berthing infrastructure catching up with demand rather than a finished facility today.

Marinas and yacht clubs

For how Kilifi and Mombasa compare with the rest of the continent's facilities, see our best marinas in Africa guide, and if your route continues east, our guide to sailing the Indian Ocean from Mauritius covers the wider crossing picture.

Registration and importing a boat

The Kenya Maritime Authority, KMA, requires registration for every vessel imported and used in Kenyan waters: no vessel may legally sail in Kenya without it. Paperwork includes Form 28A for registration, Form 28B to appoint an authorized representative, and Form 46 to give notice of a proposed name. This is a stricter, more absolute rule than Egypt's or Morocco's temporary-admission norm: it applies even to a private yacht based long-term at Kilifi or Mombasa.

Kenya applies the EAC Common External Tariff, with general customs duty ranging from 0 to 100 percent and an average around 25 percent, sensitive items higher. No yacht-specific ad-valorem figure was confirmed in our research, so verify the correct HS classification and rate with KRA or a clearing agent. VAT is more straightforward: Kenya's standard rate is 16 percent, applied to the sum of CIF value, duty and other applicable charges. One newer rule to flag: since 14 February 2025, all importers must obtain local marine cargo insurance, a digital cover from KRA and the Insurance Regulatory Authority, without which customs clearance cannot be secured. Confirm this is still in force and how it applies to your specific import before you plan around it.

Which boats suit this coast

Catamarans and smaller cruisers dominate Kenya's listings, which points toward the Lagoon 42 and Fountaine Pajot Lucia 40, both realistic alternative catamaran brands with a meaningful secondhand presence in the wider Indian Ocean charter-resale market. For Watamu and Malindi's dive and snorkel day trips, a Jeanneau Cap Camarat 9.0 keeps things simple on outboard power.

For buyers drawn to the century-old sailing-club culture at Mombasa, a monohull such as the Beneteau Oceanis 46.1 suits the racing and cruising mix that club represents, with lower mooring costs than a catamaran of the same length since there is no beam surcharge to budget for.