Uganda dropped its yellow fever entry certificate on 2 October 2026, but Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania still ask. Journey table, 12 hour transit rule and border outcomes, dated.
The yellow fever certificate East Africa border officials ask about is the vaccination card (the ICVP, often called the yellow card), and the rule is set country by country, not for the region. Since 2 October 2026 Uganda no longer requires it for entry. Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania still ask arrivals from listed countries, and those lists include Uganda. This guide shows who asks, from where, and what happens without one.
Written by Paramount Gorilla Expeditions Team East Africa. Facts last checked 11 October 2026.
Lists of countries can change without notice. Confirm with the arrival country's health authority before you travel.
On 2 October 2026 Uganda's immigration authority posted a notice on its website saying that "A Yellow Fever Vaccination certificate is no longer a mandatory requirement for entry into Uganda." The notice adds that the certificate is not listed on the e-visa portal or on the immigration site. You can read it on the Uganda immigration website. That is when Uganda dropped the requirement, and it makes most older advice wrong for Uganda.
A Ministry of Internal Affairs letter sits behind the notice. It replied to a request from the Uganda Tourism Board and, according to press reports, covers all travellers. We read press reports (Kenyans.co.ke, The EastAfrican, ATC News), not the letter itself. The UK Foreign Office (FCDO) page for Uganda, updated on 8 October 2026, no longer carries a yellow fever line.
The notice gives no effective date, no legal basis, no conditions and no exemptions. Nothing we found says how officers at Entebbe or at land borders have been briefed. Before the change, Uganda's 2024 health guidance asked for a card from people "entering and leaving" the country, while the new notice speaks only of entry. Whether the exit rule or any airline check at departure has changed is not addressed anywhere we looked.
Some pages still say the card is required: the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority page, the UK TravelHealthPro Uganda page and the East Africa tourist visa page on Uganda's own site, plus several operator blogs. We treat these as out of date because the dated notice is newer, but the notice itself is days old.
This guide covers the yellow fever certificate East Africa entry paper only. It is not medical advice and it does not cover malaria. For whether to be vaccinated, and the health side, read our guide to malaria, yellow fever and vaccinations and speak to your doctor or travel clinic.
The yellow fever certificate East Africa travellers carry is judged by the country you arrive from. A yellow fever card for East Africa is judged where you land, not where you started. Each government keeps its own list of countries, so the same traveller can be asked in one direction and not in the other. The table sets out what each arrival country's own list says.
| Journey | What the arrival country's own list says | Source and confidence |
|---|---|---|
| Any country to Uganda | Certificate not required for entry since the 2 October 2026 notice; no conditions published | Uganda immigration notice; high, but days old |
| Uganda to Kenya | Uganda is on Kenya's list: certificate expected on arrival; transit of 12 hours or more also counts | Kenya Airports Authority page; high source, undated |
| Rwanda to Kenya, Tanzania to Kenya | Neither Rwanda nor Tanzania is on Kenya's list | Same page; high source, undated |
| Uganda to Rwanda, Kenya to Rwanda | Both are on Rwanda's list: certificate mandatory; without one, vaccination on arrival at your cost plus quarantine until the card is 10 days old | Rwanda RBC info note, 22 May 2026; high |
| Tanzania to Rwanda | Tanzania is not on Rwanda's list | Same note; high |
| Uganda to Tanzania | Uganda is on Tanzania's list: certificate required, or vaccination on arrival | Tanzania Ministry of Health notice, 31 July 2023; medium to high |
| Kenya to Tanzania | Kenya is on Tanzania's list | Same notice; medium to high |
| Rwanda to Tanzania | Rwanda is on Tanzania's list, although Rwanda's own note does not list Tanzania | Same notice; medium to high |
| Mainland Tanzania to Zanzibar, or Uganda, Kenya or Rwanda to Zanzibar | We found no government statement | Gap, see below |
The Tanzania list is three years old, so confirm it before you travel.
Uganda is on the lists of all three neighbours that we could read. So the journeys where a card is most likely to be asked are the ones arriving from Uganda: into Kenya, into Rwanda and into Tanzania. How officers treat those arrivals after 2 October is not stated in any source we found. Until it is, assume the card may be asked.
The lists are not symmetrical, which most guides miss. Kenya does not list Rwanda or Tanzania, Rwanda does not list Tanzania, and Tanzania lists Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda. A route that ends in Tanzania has usually passed through a listed country first. For the order of countries on a four-country trip, see our route guide. The wider paper trail is in our visa rules for five destinations.
Rwanda's Ministry of Health and Biomedical Centre (RBC) published an info note for travellers dated Kigali, 22 May 2026. It says a certificate is not required from non-endemic countries without an active outbreak, but is mandatory from endemic countries or countries with active transmission, for residents and non-residents alike. The note's list is described as dynamic and able to change at any time. It includes Kenya and Uganda, along with Burundi, DR Congo, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Sudan and Nigeria among others. Tanzania and Rwanda are not on it. Read the RBC note for travellers for the full list.
The WHO country list gives Rwanda's rule as a certificate for travellers aged one year or over arriving from countries with a risk of yellow fever transmission. The FCDO says the same without ages. Rwanda's migration pages add that extra rules can apply during an outbreak. The note also says a traveller from a country with an active outbreak, or who visited one in the previous 24 days, must have no fever (below 38.5 C) and report symptoms for 6 days. We found no list of active-outbreak countries.
The Kenya Airports Authority page says travellers from listed countries are "expected to possess valid yellow fever vaccination certificates upon arrival", and adds "(These include airport transit for 12 hours or more)". The list of 41 countries includes Uganda, Ethiopia, Burundi, South Sudan and DR Congo. Tanzania and Rwanda are not on it. The page is undated, says the list may be updated according to disease patterns, and states no age rule or medical exemption. See the Kenya Airports Authority page.
The WHO list gives Kenya's rule as a certificate for travellers aged one year or over arriving from risk countries, and the FCDO page for Kenya agrees. Kenya's separate electronic travel authorisation is a different document, covered in our Kenya eTA guide.
In short, the yellow fever certificate Uganda travellers once needed is gone, but the yellow fever certificate Kenya asks for from arrivals out of Uganda is still on Kenya's published list.
The mainland rule is the one that affects most four-country routes. A Tanzania Ministry of Health notice titled "List of countries for which a valid certificate of vaccination against yellow fever is required for entry in Tanzania", dated 31 July 2023, lists Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda, along with Burundi, DR Congo, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Sudan and others. It is based on the WHO list as of 3 January 2023. It also says travellers from countries not on the list are not screened or vaccinated at entry. The notice is hosted on the Air Tanzania website.
We rate this as medium to high confidence. It is three years old and we could not open it on a live Ministry page. The UK FCDO page for Tanzania, updated 9 October 2026, says you must have a certificate if arriving from a yellow fever risk country, but names no countries. UK TravelHealthPro says the same and links to the WHO list. So the 2023 notice is the only published list we found for the yellow fever certificate Tanzania asks for, and lists can change.
Tanzania's visa and its mandatory inbound insurance are separate documents, explained in our Tanzania travel insurance guide. For a route built around the country, see our Rwanda and Tanzania safari guide.
We found no government source for a separate Zanzibar yellow fever rule. UK TravelHealthPro covers "Tanzania including Zanzibar" with one entry. The Ministry of Health notice for the mainland says "mainland" in its title. Nothing we read states what applies to a traveller flying from the mainland to Zanzibar, or from Uganda, Kenya or Rwanda direct to Zanzibar or via Dar es Salaam. Zanzibar has run its own port health regime for Ebola (see below), but we found nothing on yellow fever.
The safe reading for a yellow fever certificate East Africa route that includes Zanzibar is to carry the card on the whole journey and to ask your planner to confirm the Zanzibar position in writing for your dates. We do not state a rule the sources do not give.
For a yellow fever certificate East Africa trip, two of the three governments state a transit trigger. Tanzania's notice includes vaccination for a "long flight connection (transit) in yellow fever endemic country for twelve hours (12hrs) or more". Kenya's page says the arrival rule includes "airport transit for 12 hours or more". UK TravelHealthPro describes the Tanzania rule as applying to people who transited for more than 12 hours through an airport in a risk country. Rwanda's note does not mention transit at all.
So a 12 hour transit is the figure to remember, with one wrinkle: "12 hours or more" in the government wording becomes "more than 12 hours" in the UK summary. If your layover is close to the line, carry the card and do not argue the hour. None of the sources says how the hours are measured, or whether airside passengers are treated differently.
Most safari connections are far shorter than 12 hours. The rule matters for overnight layovers. Because Kenya is on Tanzania's list, a layover of 12 hours or more in Nairobi on the way to Tanzania sits inside the rule as Tanzania words it (our reading, not an official ruling). For the same reason a long wait in Entebbe before a flight to Tanzania could count, and we found nothing saying whether the 2 October change alters that.
Check each connection against the 12 hour figure before you book. Our flight logistics guide covers the legs.
Under the International Health Regulations, a yellow fever certificate East Africa border officers inspect has been valid for life since 11 July 2016. WHO states that validity "shall extend for the life of the person vaccinated", applies automatically to certificates already issued, and that a booster dose "cannot be required of international travellers". UK TravelHealthPro repeats the point on its Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda pages: a valid certificate cannot be rejected because more than ten years have passed. The US CDC adds that the vaccine is valid for a person's lifetime even if the card prints an expiry date.
The clock starts late. The certificate is valid from 10 days after the date of vaccination (WHO). Rwanda's note says a certificate under 10 days old is invalid. Tanzania's older annex asks for a single dose at least 10 days before entry. So a shot given the week before you fly may not count on arrival. That is a timing fact about the paper, not a medical statement about the vaccine.
The CDC's page on the international certificate of vaccination lists what officers check. The name must match the passport exactly. Dates use day, month in letters and year. "Yellow Fever" is printed. The clinician's signature must be handwritten, since a stamp does not replace it, and the card must carry the vaccination centre's official stamp. See the CDC ICVP page. Carry the original card, not only a photo.
The entry requirement applies from age one year (WHO list; TravelHealthPro). Tanzania's own mainland documents describe exemptions for travellers under one and over 60. WHO and TravelHealthPro give no upper age limit, so we treat the over-60 exemption as medium confidence and not something to rely on at the desk.
For a medical exemption, the CDC describes a signed, dated letter on letterhead with the centre's stamp, plus the contraindication section of the card completed. Reasons other than a medical contraindication are not acceptable, and the destination country may still refuse a waiver. Whether you qualify is for your doctor, not for this page.
Without a yellow fever certificate East Africa entry rules differ by country, and the published consequences are less settled than the headline rules. Here is what the sources say, in the order a four-country route usually meets them.
The RBC note says travellers from the listed countries who lack a certificate are vaccinated on arrival at their own cost. Because a certificate under 10 days old is invalid, the traveller is quarantined until it becomes valid. Refusing the measures means denial of entry. This is the strictest wording we found in the region, from an official May 2026 note, so we rate it high. It is why late vaccination is a poor plan for Rwanda. Our Uganda Rwanda border crossing guide covers the crossing days themselves.
An Annex 1 document (updated February 2017, hosted by an operator in 2023) says a traveller without a certificate "may be refused entry or vaccinated on arrival and monitored for up to 10 days". It quotes USD 50 for foreigners and says a government receipt is issued. Treat the amount and the monitoring as medium confidence and reported, not current. Confirm the position before you rely on it, because we found no live Ministry page repeating it.
The Kenya Airports Authority page says port health clinics at Kenyan airports vaccinate, quoting Ksh 3,500, undated. It states no consequence for arriving without a certificate, and we found none. For Uganda, nothing is required for entry now, so the question does not arise, although the notice sets no conditions.
This is the short list of places where the sources say a yellow fever certificate East Africa travellers lack can be obtained, with the confidence of each. We have not invented a clinic where the sources name none.
A clinic can only help you if you have time. Vaccination on arrival issues a card, but under the WHO rule that card is valid from day 10. At home, ask your clinic early. At the border, expect the 10 day rule to apply.
Travellers this season may be asked for health forms and screening for Ebola (Bundibugyo virus). None of the official sources we read describes an Ebola certificate or proof-of-health document. The papers they mention are health declaration or surveillance forms. We state dated facts only, and the live pages below always win.
Read the live pages, because they change daily: the WHO outbreak notice, the CDC situation summary and the UK FCDO health pages for Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda. Our hub keeps a running note under health alerts.
Anyone whose route crosses a border, which is every multi-country guest, needs to plan their yellow fever certificate East Africa paperwork. A Uganda-only trip needs nothing for Uganda today, but the flight home or onward may involve another country. A route that includes Kenya, Rwanda or Tanzania should assume the card may be asked at each arrival from a listed country. Routes that end in Tanzania, such as a Uganda Rwanda Tanzania safari, face the longest list, because Tanzania names all three neighbours. A route such as our 12 day Uganda Rwanda Tanzania safari is planned with that in mind.
Guests on a Rwanda and Kenya plan, such as our 8 day Rwanda Kenya safari, meet a different pair: Rwanda to Kenya is not on Kenya's list, while Kenya to Rwanda is on Rwanda's. The Rwanda and Kenya safari and Uganda Rwanda Kenya safari guides give the route detail.
What most guides get wrong is the direction. They announce that Uganda dropped the requirement and stop, or they list Uganda's old rule as if it were the whole region. This page keeps the rule attached to the arrival country, and dates every fact.
Put your yellow fever card for East Africa in the same wallet as your passport and visa papers; our safari packing list covers the rest. Then ask your planner, in writing, which borders the route crosses, which arrivals are on a published list, how the route handles a layover of 12 hours or more, and what the position is for Zanzibar. Our planners in Entebbe confirm each point before we quote and flag anything the published rules leave open.
Before you fly, run through a short yellow fever certificate East Africa checklist.
Related reading: our multi-country safari hub, the East Africa tourist visa guide and the travel insurance guide. For the four-country route itself, see our 14 day four country safari.
Tell us your dates and the countries you want to see. We will mark each arrival on your route and say plainly what is still unconfirmed.
Plan my tripLate July to September is the best time for a four country safari across Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya and Tanzania. See the month by month table, the second window and the 2026/27 rain caveat.
Read the guide →Trek gorillas in both countries on one trip: what two permits cost, which Bwindi sector links to Rwanda, which direction to travel and how to protect a rest day between treks.
Read the guide →What an East Africa safari really costs: the four price drivers, official permit and park fees in Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya and Tanzania, our from-prices and how to read a quote.
Read the guide →The East Africa tourist visa covers Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda for USD 100 and 90 days, but not Tanzania. Fees, first-entry rule, Kenya eTA question and the Tanzania eVisa, dated.
Read the guide →The fixed part of a four country safari cost: permits, park fees, visas and Tanzania insurance, added up for six routes, plus the ten lines to compare in any quote.
Read the guide →Should gorilla trekking come at the start or end of a long safari? Both sides, the tie-breakers, buffer nights and what to do if a trek is cancelled, with a five-step method to choose.
Read the guide →Work out how many days a Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya and Tanzania safari needs: a nights-per-stop ledger, the transfer days you cannot skip, and what 10 to 21 days really give you.
Read the guide →The Kenya eTA for safari guests: official USD 30 fee, about three working days to process, 90 days validity, who is exempt, transit rules and the open question for regional visa holders.
Read the guide →A planner's guide to a Rwanda Kenya Tanzania safari that starts in Kigali: route order, flights, the Mara to Serengeti link, entry rules and the gorilla permit.
Read the guide →A planner's guide to a Rwanda and Kenya safari: start in Kigali, trek once, fly to Nairobi, then the Mara. Flights, how to split your days and the entry rules for both countries.
Read the guide →A planner's guide to a Rwanda and Tanzania safari: one gorilla trek, RwandAir's three-day-a-week flight, the Serengeti by air or road, and Tanzania's eVisa and insurance rules.
Read the guide →How flights really work between safari countries: international routes, bush flights, the 15 kg baggage limit, the Mara to Serengeti link, overland times and a realistic transit day.
Read the guide →Safari luggage weight limits by carrier: the 15 kg soft bag rule, who allows 20 kg, excess and freight seat prices, storing luggage at the gateway and packing for the multi-country trap.
Read the guide →Tanzania now requires foreign visitors to hold government inbound travel insurance. See what is verified, reported and unknown: cost, exemptions, Zanzibar, buying and enforcement.
Read the guide →The route we recommend for a Uganda Kenya Tanzania safari: the best order, how many days it needs, the best months, how you move between countries and what to check before you book.
Read the guide →Two land posts link Rwanda and Uganda for gorilla trips. Learn which suits your sector, what to carry, how long to allow and why hours differ, checked 11 October 2026.
Read the guide →A Uganda Rwanda Kenya safari on one East Africa Tourist Visa: the order of the three countries, the Nairobi flights, the Mara, yellow fever rules and the open Kenya eTA question.
Read the guide →How to plan a Uganda Rwanda Kenya Tanzania safari: the four route directions compared, the flight chain, how the East Africa Tourist Visa interacts with the order, and what to check.
Read the guide →A planner's guide to a Uganda Rwanda Tanzania safari: Entebbe or Kigali start, the border or flight between the forests, Kilimanjaro flights, visas and Tanzania's insurance.
Read the guide →Visa rules for Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zanzibar and the Seychelles change often. Here is how to check them properly and what to prepare before you travel.
Read the guide →Not sure where to start? Choose by what matters most: the migration, gorillas, a beach, budget or a first African trip. Here is how.
Read the guide →Tell us your dates and interests — a destination specialist replies within 24 hours.
Start Planning