Kamante is the primary comic figure in Out of Africa. When he is first introduced, he is a young sickly boy who arrives daily for medical treatment at the narrator's hands. As a child, Kamante sits stoically and never makes a sound. It is not until he returns from the hospital that he shows himself to have comic intentions. When the narrator first sees him again, Kamante has wrapped bandages around his legs, even though they are completely healed. The narrator concludes that natives have a flair for dramatic effect. Another dramatic technique he occasionally uses is his ability to shed tears at will. For a long time, the narrator actually feels sympathy for him, before she realizes that his tears are just another one of his comic, yet dramatic effects.

Kamante also appears a comic figure because the narrator takes pains to recount some of his funnier misunderstandings for comedic effect. For example, she finds it humorous that Kamante now feels so proud of being a Christian, but the sole change it has truly affected is his lack of fear of snakes and dead people. Kamante frequently brags to other Kikuyu boys that he can step on snakes and kill them, although he refuses to believe that dinner courses should be served in a certain order. Kamante also has a tendency to remember his dishes by events that happened on the day that he learned the recipe, which adds to the humor of his behavior. Kamante overall is a kind, friendly character, but one who differs from the severity expressed by other native man, such as Farah and Kinanjui.

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