Travel Diaries: Nairobi National Park

I am a nature freak! the idea of going to a park and seeing animals and nature undisturbed is just heaven for me, literally!

I am lucky that i am a Kenyan, and i live i Nairobi, and as if i couldn’t get lucky enough, i have a national park a mere twenty minute drive from my house (and that’s after factoring in traffic) :). Nairobi National Park is the only national park on earth that boarders a capital city. Accessible via both Lang’ata and Mombasa road, it is roughly three kilometers from the city center. If you are a Kenyan, the entry charges are Ksh 430, while non residents pay USD 43. Quite affordable, no??

Once you’ve gotten into the park, paid up, and the game drive begins, you will soon start spotting the animals. it is best to go early in the morning, at dawn or at dusk. However, the earlier, the better.

With all that in mind, my friends and i decided to do a game drive. We got to the park at 0615hrs, and started our game drive. The first animal i spotted was a crested crane, which happens to be Uganda’s national bird followed by a herd of Hartebeests and their young. There are many species of birds in the park, which happens to be a bird watchers haven, some were too far for me to make out, but i spotted the bigger ones like male and female ostriches, a kori bustard- which happens to be the largest flying bird native to Africa, and secretary birds.

We had an awesome guide, who was giving us these facts with each animal spotted, he also advised us to look on the tree branches for leopards, which are harder to spot. We spotted some maasai giraffes in the distance, tall and graceful, and a couple of lions sunning themselves on a rocky mound. As we progressed into the park, we were able to see black rhinos, dikdiks, warethogs, impala, and towards the end of our game drive, a leopard silhouetted in the tall grass.

We were done with our game drive at around 1030 hrs,and decided to go to David Sheldrick’s wildlife trust, which is an orphaned elephant rescue and rehabilitation center.

After touring the center we were ready for lunch, which we had at the mamba village. It was a brilliant and affordable way of spending a Saturday morning. 🙂