Who we are
We're the guys you ring to make it all happen.
Your ultimate plug!
Ask us anything you'd ask a friend who lives here. You'll get the same straight answer.
The people
Get to know one of us.
Emmanuel Otieno
Founder
“I left a job I was good at to do the thing I actually cared about.”
Every Holidays, I watched the same thing happen. People finally got a week off, and spent half of it on the phone — chasing a car that never turned up, arguing about a room that looked nothing like the photos, being quoted one price and charged another. A whole year of saving, eaten by logistics.
I had a job. A good one, on paper. But I already knew this country properly — which roads are worth the drive, which camp still answers the phone in February, who to call when something falls through at six in the evening. So I left, and I built the thing I kept wishing existed.
That is all Way & Waves is. One person who knows the ground, handling the parts that ruin holidays. When a message comes through from somewhere on the coast at sunset and it just says thank you — that is the whole job.
How this works
We don't own the villas. We know the people who do.
Years of relationships with owners across Kenya. Better rates, and an honest opinion on which places are worth it.
Who we partner with
- Villa and Airbnb owners
- Camp and lodge operators
- BnB and guest house hosts
- Boat and dhow crews
- Charter pilots
- Restaurants and venues
Repeat business all year — which is what gets you a room in a full season.
What that means for you
Rates you would not get alone
We are quoted partner rates and pass them on. Usually cheaper than booking direct.
Rooms we have slept in ourselves
If we recommend it, someone here has woken up there. We keep a longer list of places we never send anyone.
People who pick up the phone
Guides, camp managers, pilots. When plans change at 6pm, knowing them personally beats any booking site.
A long memory for bad nights
Everything that went wrong gets written down. It’s why it won’t happen on yours.
No reason to steer you wrong
Nobody pays us extra to send you somewhere worse. Cheaper and better? That’s what you’ll hear.
The network
Nine kinds of people we rely on.
None of them work for us. All of them have been chosen, used repeatedly, and are dropped the moment they stop being worth recommending.
Camps & lodges
From six-tent conservancy camps to the big names.
Beach houses & resorts
Diani, Watamu, Kilifi, Lamu.
City hotels & BnBs
Nairobi, Mombasa, Naivasha.
Guides & trackers
People who can read ground, not just recite names.
Tour & safari operators
For the parts we do not run ourselves.
Boat & dhow charters
Coast and the marine parks.
Mountain crews
Guides, porters, cooks, gear.
Light aircraft & transfers
Airstrips, when driving would waste a day.
Restaurants
The ones worth booking, and the ones worth walking past.
The standard
Getting on the list is the easy half.
How a partner gets in
- One of us has been there, and recently enough for it to still be true.
- They pick up the phone in February, not just in peak season.
- What they quote is what shows up on the bill.
- They call us when something has gone wrong, before our client does.
What gets them dropped
- Someone we sent was made to feel like an inconvenience.
- A charge turned up that nobody had mentioned beforehand.
- Safety was treated as negotiable — a vehicle, a boat, a guide, a route.
- They promised something they already knew they couldn’t deliver.
- It happened twice.
That last one is not a joke. Everyone has a bad week. Nobody gets a bad month.
What we hold ourselves to
Four things you can hold us to.
Written as promises rather than adjectives, because a promise can be broken and an adjective cannot.
Say the inconvenient thing
Wrong month, too-long drive, cheaper camp that’s better — you’ll hear it, even when the expensive answer pays us more.
One person, the whole way
No departments, no explaining yourself twice. Whoever plans it is whoever picks up on Sunday morning.
Know it, do not google it
Everything we recommend, one of us has done. If we don’t know, we say so and go find out.
The price is the price
What we quote is what you pay. No surcharge at the end, no mystery fees.
So, where are you thinking?
You don't need it worked out. Tell us roughly, we take it from there.