Seven Amazing Mini-Safaris You Can Make in Nairobi City

The Nairobi Safari Package

Nairobi is the Capital City of Kenya and one of the better-known urban centres in Africa. It is estimated to be home to 4.2 million people in 2022 and therefore qualifies as a major urban settlement. However, despite its hectic growth, the city retains a vibrant African safari flavour that tar and concrete have failed to erase ! 

This post invokes a nature-friendly safari package you may enjoy inside the City. Only attractions that carry a touch of the wild or reconnect you with nature will be worthy of our attention here, so do not expect anything of urban pedigree!

Your Nairobi safari may be out of necessity, like when you do not have sufficient time for a real Kenyan safari. Or you may have found yourself with a few hours or days in the City to spare before you connect to your destination or get down to the meeting or other business that brought you here. You could as well be a resident desiring a quick excursion in the City alone, or with family or friends.  Whatever your situation, Nairobi has many ways to connect you with nature.  

An unhurried round of the Nairobi safari package could take you a week or more to complete! Numerous mini-safari options will connect you back to nature within a 30-kilometre radius of your hotel bed or home! Here are our top seven:

1. Nairobi National Park

The Nairobi National Park prides itself as the only natural wildlife park in the world located inside a city. It is the oldest national park in Kenya and its creation in 1946 marked the turning point in wildlife management in Kenya. Before then, wildlife conservation areas were not defined with wild animals roaming freely in a literal 'national park' fashion!

Nairobi National Park's main gate is about ten kilometres from the city centre along Lang'ata Road. With low road traffic, you can drive from the centre to the Park in ten minutes or less.

 Attractions at the Park include the endangered rhino, lion, cheetah, buffalo, giraffe, zebra, wild beast, eland and tens of other species that roam the Athi-Kapiti plains. The plains extend to the Southern Maasai country to join the Amboseli and Mara wildlife zones. There are hundreds of bird species to spot too including seasonal immigrants from other continents. Several picnic sites may persuade you to enjoy relaxation moments in the Park after you view the animals.

The gates are open to the public from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day. Safari experts recommend early morning drives if you are to see the often elusive big carnivores -  lion, leopard and cheetah - that reside here.It would take you a day to complete an unhurried tour of the 177 square kilometre Park.

2. Nairobi  Animal Orphanage

The Nairobi Animal Orphanage is located inside Nairobi National Park. It is a nurturing ground for injured, abandoned or orphaned animals rescued by the Kenya Wildlife Service. Some of the animals are eventually released back to their natural habitats. Those unable to adjust to life in the wild are left to live their whole lives in the Orphanage.

In addition to serving as a rescue centre, the Orphanage provides an apt stage for the KWS to highlight and share with visitors the challenges and benefits of wildlife conservation.

Entry procedures to the Orphanage, including payment of fees, are separate from those applicable to the Park.  A visit here is most fitting if you have minimal time to spare for an excursion in the City. Access is easy and fast. Unlike the Park, the Orphanage is a non-motorised site so you do not require a private vehicle to get in.

It is open from 9. a.m. to 5.30 p.m. every day

3. Nairobi Safari Walk

The Nairobi Safari Walk is another unique attraction located inside the Nairobi National Park. Here you can view from a close distance by the naked eye or through a protective glass a selection of wild animals, including lions and cheetahs, living in a 'naturalized' African savanna forest environment.

You may also opt to climb up the canopy walk to get a bird's eye view of the animals below and

the dense savannah forest that straddles one side of the Park. Kenya Wildlife Service guides are readily available to lead you around the Walk should you be keen to learn more about the animals and plants hosted here.

Like the animal orphanage, it is open to the public from 9.00 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. every day.

4. Nairobi Museum

The Nairobi National Museum is Kenya's premier Museum. It sits on Museum Hill, less than two Kilometers west of the city centre. It is an exciting place to visit: You are unlikely ever to regret having spent your time gazing at the Museum's world-famous collections, and reading and hearing stories about them.

The Museum is a showcase of Kenya's biodiversity as well as cultural, artistic and historical heritage. However, its main claim to fame lies in several pre-historic humanoid fossil exhibits that it displays. Among these is the Turkana Boy said to be one of the most 'complete' pre-historic skeletons ever found.

Stuffed images of wild mammals and birds common in national parks in Kenya also form part of its stock of collections. An art gallery occasionally hosts exhibitions by local artists.

An annexe to the Museum hosts a snake park where visitors may see and learn about many of the reptiles found in East Africa. 

After spending time in the Museum’s hallways, you may also explore its nature trail and vegetable gardens. You can also shop for African artefacts at the crafts shop and enjoy Kenya's famous arabica coffee at the Museum's coffee house.

5. The Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage

The Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage is a famous wildlife conservation site located on the fringes of the Nairobi National Park. It is run by The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in collaboration with with the Kenya Wildlife Service.

Kenyan Conservationist Daphne Sheldrick founded both the Orphanage and the Trust in the late seventies in honour of her late husband, David Sheldrick, who was the Warden-in-charge at Tsavo National Park, Kenya's largest National Park by size and home to the country's largest elephant herd. 

At the Orphanage every morning at 11 a.m., the workers bring baby elephants out for the daily public show. The babies frolic around the grounds and play with their toys between being fed and petted by their keepers. You also get to see where they live and learn about the intricate nurturing processes they undergo to help them recover from their trauma.

You may hear sad stories about their rescues. However, the evidence of the care given to them by the Orphanage and the bond between them and their keepers bring a nice ending to their stories. 

No special effort is required to reach the orphanage. From the City Centre,  the gates are on the left when you reach Banda School on Magadi Road. The road runs along the Nairobi National Park fence further down its main entrance.

The Orphanage opens its gates to visitors every day for one hour between 11 a.m. and 12 noon. You will have to be there when the gates open to witness all the events of the daily programme. At precisely noon, the workers lead the babies back to their rooms, and the Orphanage is closed to the public until the following day.

6. The Giraffe Centre

The Giraffe Centre was founded in 1979 by a Kenyan of British descent Jack Leslie Melville and his American wife, Betty. It is located in the Karen suburb, a short distance off the Langata South Road about 15 kilometres from the City centre.

The Centre first served as the focal point for the rescue of a herd of 120 giraffes of the endangered Rothschild sub-species from an 18,000-acre ranch due for sub-division in Western Kenya. 

Here you spend your time watching at close distance the beauty and elegance of the towering mammals. A wooden 'watchtower' that doubles as a mini-art gallery and learning room for visitors provides a unique vantage point for face-to-face encounters with the mammals. You also get the rare chance to touch and feed them with your own hands, and, for a bonus, the opportunity to shoot your best giraffe selfie. It's a rare chance to get real up, close and personal with the sky-scraping champion of the animal kingdom!

You may also choose to explore the nature trail in the 100-acre compound. If lucky, you may encounter the bushbuck and the warthog and spot many of the nearly 180 bird species commonly found in the sanctuary.

Visits here are full of muted fun. They fit everyone's taste but would especially be unforgettable for children accompanying their parents on  Safari, or families looking for an extraordinary outing. Any child's story bank will be boosted greatly by a visit here! Best of all, you are sure to get answers to the three lingering questions about giraffes, should you ask:

•  'Do giraffes make any sounds, or are they dumb?
•  Do they ever lie down or get to sleep?
•  Can they drink water on the ground and if so, how; or do they get it from the trees?'

7. Karura Forest 
Karura Forest is a  ..natural forest located ..kilometres from Nairobi City Centre along Kiambu Road. It is an iconic place interwoven with Kenya's history in the struggle for social, economic and political independence in colonial and post-colonial eras.

The fight for its survival is among the events that defined the life of Kenya's environmentalist and Nobel Peace Prize winner, the late Wangari Mathai, who fought political and other elites who had shared it among themselves. Its survival a unique urban forest accessible to all is largely attributed to her struggles and work done by government agencies and other volunteers. 

There is no shortage of recreational things to do at Karura. These range from picnicking to walking, trail-biking, jogging, playing soccer or lawn tennis, bird-watching and spending quiet time alone,  or frolicking with others. A rustic restaurant offers ambience and food for dinners.

It is a pleasant place to be as the noise and stress of City life are suddenly, swallowed by the quietness of the forested habitat only cancelled out by the occasional singing by beautiful birds and the whistling of the mass choir of old and young trees that engulf you.   

Tour guiding services that enrich visitors' experience of the Forest are available at a fee. Jogging, walking along nature trails and bicycle riding are the most popular activities among visitors. Picnic sites add to the allure of spending relaxation time in the forest. 

There are entry gates along Limuru Road across the Embassy of Belgium and one on Kiambu Road facing Sharks' Place Restaurant.  

The former serves as the main entrance zone to the recreational part of the Forest.  

The gates are open from 6.00 to 18.00 hours and closed at 19.00 hours.  Access by public means from the City Centre is easy by Matatu  Nos. 100, 120, 121 and 116. The hailing and other taxi companies operating in Nairobi will take you there too. 

Entry fees in June 2024 were Kshs.100 for adult citizens, Kshs.200 for residents, Kshs.600 for non-resident adults and  Kshs.50, Kshs.100  and Kshs.300 for children in these respective categories. Vehicle parking fees ranged from Kshs.200 for cars to Kshs.1000 for Buses. 

Is Nairobi the World's Safari Capital or Not? 

These nature-themed recreational hotspots could upend critics'  labelling as 'wild claims'  the City's repeated boast of being the  'World's Safari Capital' and its  'Green City in the Sun' tagline.  

Have you been to these Nairobi destinations? Please share your experience or comments in the section below.