Booking the Madaraka Express

I just realized there’s only one payment method accepted for booking the Mombasa-Nairobi express train ticket online: M-Pesa, a mobile money transfer service used in Africa. Would it be impossible to book as a European?

Via Google, I saw some websites explaining how to use M-Pesa as a tourist. From what I understood, you need a local SIM card. I also saw that there’s an app to top up your M-Pesa account and that it’s possible to do so with a credit card. Otherwise, you can also top up with cash.

Hi there, Yeah, not very convenient. So either you need to know someone in Kenya who has an M-Pesa account and you send them the money so they can book the train for you. Or you need to find a local agency that can do it, and you pay them by card or another method. Alternatively, you have to wait until you're there, buy a Safaricom SIM, activate the M-Pesa option, and top it up to buy the ticket (and then you can keep using it because it saves you from carrying cash, so it's super handy). Or there might be other options I'm not thinking of that other forum members have tried