Nairobi National Park

A perfect end to a life changing experience

My visit to Nairobi National Park came at the end of an 11 day photo safari. The regular tour didn't have this park as one of its stops. I had several hours before leaving Nairobi so I booked a tour. To my surprise, it ended up to be a private tour as no one else signed up.

I found the park to be amazing. My favorite part was when we had a reasonably close encounter with a Black Rhino. That experience took my breath away. All the other animals and birds on this Nairobi National Park tour were very special. I asked my guide if locals visit the park and he said no. He told me most of the visitors were tourists. I was saddened to hear that the locals did not take advantage of such a national treasure.

All together, I found the Nairobi National Park to be very special. It was fascinating that such a park with such beautiful wildlife so close to a large city was available to me any anyone else who wanted to see nature, especially endangered animals before they disappear. It is also wonderful for people who travel on business to Nairobi to have such a beautiful place to experience nature in the wild so close that they can take a few hours between meetings to feast their eyes on real nature.

A must do while in Nairobi

Well if you are in Nairobi, then a trip to the Nairobi National PArk must be on the Itinerary. It is preety much the only National park in a city anywhere in the world.
Wild, untouched and well populated, one will always get to see great game from the herbivores, to the big cats and even rhino. Bird lovers will also not go wrong.

An excellent trip for an early morning trip or in the evening. Its easily accessible from the city through the many entrance gates and one can even do it in the standard family car.

It was Amazing. I have seen Lion from so near which was an adventure for me.

Everything was good.

Our Guide was having fully knowledge about the park which made our trip easy.

Amazing wildlife experience right on the edge of the big city

My wife and I went on a ten-day safari to Kenya and northern Tanzania in September 2019. We visited the Masai Mara, Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, Lake Manyara, and Tanagire and Amboseli National Parks. The adventure involved a lot of sitting in safari vehicles, but the trip was amazing overall. Upon returning, I realized that perhaps the smartest thing we did in planning the journey was to start by visiting Nairobi National Park, just outside Nairobi itself. This is a small but amazing preserve in which we saw an impressive variety of wildlife and birds in just a few hours. It was the only place we saw a rhinoceros during the entire trip, and we also saw lions, zebras, impalas, hartebeest, vervet monkeys, baboons, giraffes, buffalo, warthogs, Ostriches, Little bee-eaters, White- bellied bustards, and a huge variety of other birds. There are no elephants in this park, but that is hardly a major issue in light of how many animals do live within the reserve. There was a "hippo pond" that comprised perhaps the highlight of the park. There we saw birds galore, including Malechite kingfisher, Sacred ibis, Blacksmith lapwing, Black-winged stilt, and African fish eagle, as well as a large monitor lizard and of course, hippos. The park is relatively small, and our driver gave us what seemed like a complete tour within a couple of hours.

The entrance to the park is a little intimidating, as there are armed guards and, as is typical of Nairobi generally, a high degree of security. Since we were with a professional guide, however, we were able to just hang back and let him take care of the payment, paperwork, and direction. Overall, the Nairobi National Park proved an amazing place to spend an afternoon, and I recommend it to anyone visiting Nairobi or beginning a safari in that city.

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.

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.

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.