Nairobi National Park

good place for birding near Nairobi

I saw more animals here than on the other safaris, including lions, rhinos, a hippo, crocodiles, impalas, gazelles, giraffes, warthogs, buffalo, storks, cranes... While not as pretty as other locations, the backdrop of Nairobi city is interesting, and it is easy to get to this park, and still leave time in a day for visiting some other location in Nairobi.

Great start! We just loved it as a first approach to wild life.

If you are in Nairobi and do not have a chance to go on a safari this is a must.

For being so close to the city it is amazing. If you can’t get out in a safari this is the next best thing.

Saw only a zebra

A great park when you have very young kids.

Good selection of wildlife, easy enough to get the iconic shot (picture) of Giraffe and the Nairobi skyline in the background. Rhino both Black and White were easy to see when we were there, they even had a calf. A great variety of water birds, we also saw a pair of fantastic Crested Crane. Marabou stork were wandering around as if they owned the place. Loads of cheeky Baboons and other monkeys trying to steal chocolate bars and ice creams just made it a very good day out . Make sure you get good guide/driver with a 4x4. The one thing that you need to know is that cash for the entrance fee is not taken( that's in all the parks) either have a credit card or M-Pesa we found that it took a while to activate, so we ended up using a credit card.

Wildlife in my backyard

East Africa has an incredibly rich biodiversity, with variety of habitats such as the savanna, forests and grasslands, homes to the countless flora and fauna kingdom. Being part of the supercontinent Gondwana, many areas resemble the areas found on the western coastline areas of India.
We landed at Nairobi Airport and not wanting to waste time drove off directly to the Nairobi National Park which was about half an hours drive from the Airport.
Here we got the first glimpse of what Kenya beholds for the wildlife photographers.

At the parks entry gate we were greeted by none other than the Superb Starling, a beautiful bird showing off its metallic blue-green shoulder feathers with strong white eyes, later on I came to know this bird is quite a common and a nuisance sometimes, its found all over Kenya.

Bird species were a plenty at the Nairobi National Park, and we saw Pin-tailed Whydah, speckled mouse-birds, grey crowned cranes, bee eaters, egrets, Marabau storks, vultures, ostriches and many more.

Out in the open plains between small bushes we saw two young lions taking a nap, around some acacia trees we saw some white rhinos, one was with her young a calf, Masai Giraffes, Plain Zebras, buffaloes, Antelopes and Gazelles lazily moving around.

The two hours drive in the park drove away the fatigue of travel from India to Nairobi.

The Land cruiser driver cum guide was well versed with the area and the details of the vegetation and the animals seen, he was very friendly and cooperative and would stop and spot for us the well-camouflaged birds and animals of the area.

I would recommend that two sessions should be done at Nairobi national Park, one early morning and one late afternoon to justify it.

Busy park, but with an incredible amount of wildlife accessible just 15 minutes from the CBD. Morning drive is highly recommended!

Since the park can be accessed by civilian cars, rules have to be better enforced around parking near the animals. We stumbled across a female lion being surrounded by 15 cars. Some of them actually parked on the Savannah, which is against the rule. And also, 3 of the cars parked only about 10 feet away from the lion.