Nairobi National Park

Often described as a good introduction to the wildlife and birds of Kenya, this park is a must see.

We were originally planning to skip Nairobi National Park in favor of other destinations, but something came up forcing us to remain in Nairobi an extra day. I'm very glad we visited. It's so much more than just the juxtaposition of megafauna in view of the Nairobi skyline. We saw nearly 100 species of birds in a few hours, and we got to see a lot of large mammals easily, including a lion with blood dripping from its mouth, having just come from a kill. You can actually get out of the vehicle and walk around the hippo pools trail -- the park has a guard at the trailhead who will take you for a tip -- which allowed us to see insects, a nile crocodile, and a number of birds up close in the tall acacias there. It was great because visitors aren't allowed to leave their vehicle in many Kenyan parks. If I make a return trip to Kenya, I will make a point to visit Nairobi National Park again.

Not so far, but so good

I arrived in Kenya last December. I'm a country representative for a NGO working in Soweto slum, Kahawa West. There is no much time to travel and enjoy the beauty of this country. Still, being here I've been collecting a bunch of business cards from tourist agencies - just in case. At the beginning of July, with two volunteers and my best friend, we decided to take a Sunday off to the Nairobi National Park. After a long run of calls to the above-mentioned agencies, we found the one offering the best deal.
At 9 am, we were entering the main Park's gate and after few hundred meters the first hippo and a crowd of white big birds welcomed us nearby a pond. We had a minivan with an opening roof, the view was stunning with the skyscrapers contrasting with the wildlife around us. Plenty of giraffes, zebras, gnus, elands, gazelles and impalas are to be seen all around the park. The giraffes are incredibly elegant and charming while the zebras are covered with the most fashionable animal dresses: much better than a parade in Milan or Paris.
When the sun rose high in the sky, the animals were gathering around water basins. We approached a stunning black rhino and, at the sun peak, we saw three young lions (two females and a male) leaving the shadow of the tree and heading towards a fresher place.
The park is quite magical and seeing the capitol's skyscrapers in the background is such a rare contrast.
Tips: find a smart driver who knows the areas within the park and animals' behaviors.

Convenient

Nairobi National Park is pleasant, but its biggest perk is its closeness to the capital city of Nairobi. There was a reasonable variety of animals, such as zebra, giraffe and antelope. There were reportedly some lions nearby, but we weren't able to see them.

Good for a day trip, but if you want a more thorough safari experience you will have to go further afield.

An amazing experience with a wide variety of wildlife

We took a friend's van into the park and drove ourselves all over. As far as I know, this is the only national park in Kenya where this is allowed. Just minutes into our drive, we encountered a large, male rhino that jumped out into the road directly ahead of us. A few turns later, we found ourselves surrounded by a herd of at least 40 African buffalo! We saw many lions, giraffes, baboons, and zebras. The opportunities to see wildlife seemed endless, especially at water holes. Not having a guide, we chose our routes using "dumb luck" and it worked out well for us. We had to plan very carefully, since there are few toilets available and no food in the park. The weather was very comfortable and pleasant. Given the chance, I would definitely return to this park.

The best chance to see a black rhino in Kenya

Nairobi National Park is the only option of gamedrive entertainment while in Nairobi. It is fenced and the city center skyline and tidy roads always recall you that you are in an urban area. There are most of times antelopes like zebras,coke hartbeasts, impalas, giraffes, and also warthogs, and a good variety of birds, including eagles and ibis as the most interesting. Despite there are a couple of lion prides, including big males that they keep track of, we could never seen one single lion in our 4 visits to this park, and then the most interesting animal to spot there is the black rhino, a rare and critically endangered species that is easy to spot in the park, so this is the best attraction of the park. Guides provided by the lodges and camps are usually not good spotters, in our experience. We have tried already the Nairobi Tented Camp and the Emakoko, both inside the park. The Emakoko is in a beautiful site and the accommodations are excellent and food as well, we recommend it as the first choice, but be careful with their arrangements to take you to/from airport as their location in the very inner portion of the park it may have roads restrictions that require them to cross long distances to reach the park gates (just add a good time contingency to avoid losing flights, we almost lost ours!). Nairobi tented is fine too, but food is not so good as in Emakoko, and the staff is less prepared as well, accommodations are good enough.

We stayed at the Nairobi Tent Camp in Nairobi National Park. Really nice accommodations. Hot water bottles in the beds and morning french-pressed coffee delivered to tents was a really nice touch. We saw black and white rhino within the first 24 hours of entering the park. Two visits to David Sheldricks Wildlife Trust center in Nairobi was life-changing.

A quiet drive with rhino and lion on the move.

Even though we had an inexperienced driver who got lost, we had a lovely day. But we saw a lot of animals on the savannah. Zebras, ostriches, antelopes, giraffes but also rhinoceros and a single lioness hunting. Female lion was suddenly on the road in front of our jeep. It was special to be Nairobi National Park with city skyline in the background. I would highly recommend people to visit the park.

Nairobi's Backyard Wildlife Park

Having been to most of Kenya's more well known wildlife parks Nairobi NP equally compares to Kenya's top parks for wildlife viewing and photography. I have been to Nairobi NP a few times. In my experience, especially If your staying in or near the city center, arrive at 6am when the park opens to avoid Nairobi's traffic, to be amongst fewer park visitors, to see active and possibly more wildlife, and to use the morning sunlight for optimal photography. What makes this park unique is that you can be driving along in full view of Nairobi's cityscape in the background and in the next minute the cityscape disappears and you feel like you're in the wilderness or bush, miles from any city. The park has a diverse range of habitat also, from dry scrub savannah to lush riparian areas with giant acacias hovering over a perennial river to scenic gorges and rocky outcrops. Besides the park, other must see destinations that are super close to the park's main entrance are the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust and Giraffe Manor—all three can be visited in one day.

Get close to the animals at Nairobi National Park

Nairobi National Park is a great place to go if you want to see Kenyan animals up close - the animals are rather used to cars and therefore come closer than they do in other parks while still being wild.
You can make the experience into exactly what you want to - if you just want an escape from Nairobi for a couple of hours or if you want to bring a picknick and stay there the whole day. As with all safaris, it is best to go in the early morning or late evening to increase your chances of seeing animals. When I went, I did however go in the middle of the day and still saw plenty of animals (even lioness with cubs).
The day started out sunny but soon rain clouds gathered creating a beautifully dramatic landscape. Even though Nairobi National Park is smaller than other parks in Kenya, you can still feel like you are far off from the city at times - in some parts of the park you can get beautiful pictures of animals with the city skyline as a backdrop and in other parts you feel like you are in the middle of no where.
If in Nairobi, I would definitely recommend going to the Nairobi National Park but you should also take the opportunity and go to some of the larger parks / game reserves in Kenya. My favorite so far is Buffalo Springs but I have still to many more to visit! Something to keep in mind is that KWS (Kenya Wildlife Service) parks are much more expensive than other parks, especially for a non-resident, which is something to keep in mind when planning a trip to Kenya. But it's worth going!

Nairobi National Park is not one of the best parks to visit in Kenya. If you are coming to Kenya specifically for safari, there are so many bigger and more beautiful parks and reserves in Kenya with greater variety of wildlife. However, I had already been to most of the other big tourist destination parks in Kenya and I had an extra day in Nairobi, so I decided to book a day safari in Nairobi National Park and I'm glad I did. Although it's not as wonderful as the Maasai Mara, Samburu, Tsavo, or any of the other big parks, it is still a wonderful little retreat into Kenya's wildlife that lies just outside the main area of the city. I was a little disappointed with the variety of the wildlife. I asked my guide why we weren't seeing lions or rhinos and he pointed towards the more heavily forested areas where the roads didn't go, and he said they mostly hid over there. We did, however, still see a lot of animals such as giraffe, zebra, many types of antelopes, buffaloes, ostriches, etc. My guide also took me to an area where I was allowed to get out of the vehicle and an armed guard took me for a short walk in search of hippos. We couldn't see them, but we could hear them on the other side of the river breathing loudly and making their unique vocalization. It was very enjoyable. For a 1 day excursion within Nairobi, I enjoyed it very much.