Disclaimer! I am not a good writer but I hope you’ll find this post interesting.
The green city under the sun or what many people call Nairobi, is one of the coolest cities in Africa. The city derived its name from a Maasai term “enkare nyorobi” which literally translates to the land of cool waters. Fun fact about Nairobi is that it’s the only city in the entire world with a national park, yeah you heard me right, in Nairobi there’s a national park with all the big five and a wide variety of flora and fauna.
But let all that not fool you, aside from the jungle found right in the city, Nairobi is one of the most modern cities in Africa if not the world with multiple sky scrapers, an ever changing skyline, a good transport system although sometimes notorious for its traffic congestion and with some of the most diverse cultures. As such, the city offers such immense opportunities for local guides like you and myself. There are so many places that local guides can visit to get that perfect shot and help other visitors experience a piece of the city.
Nairobi is home to so many international hotels and organisations. As a local guide based in this beautiful city I make it my mission to explore this humongous city and drop reviews of the places I visit. My main aim when I go out there is to find out just how accessible a place is. Check out for wheelchair signs. Other details that I stay on the look out for are group friendly places, nice to chill alone, good place to bring kids, night life, the costs involved and just how friendly & helpful the staff are.
With all these said, this is my guide to the places I think you should visit while in Nairobi. For starters, I think the first thing to do is to visit the Nairobi National Park. Well, this place is just amazing to say the least. If you want to see the animals in their natural habitat, I recommend you go there very early in the morning. At that time, your chances of seeing all the big five are super high. But fear not, if you can’t make that early, there’s an animal orphanage where you can get to see the lions, leopards and some other interesting carnivores. The staff are super friendly and helpful and the prices are equally pocket friendly.
Secondly, I think the Giraffe Manor is one of the most sweetest experiences. Well, let me break it down for you. You dine with giraffes. A romantic table for two(well depends with how many you are), awesome food and an open window with giraffes peeping and occasionally sticking their long necks to be fed. I don’t know if there’s any other feeling in this world that beats dining with nature. It’s a shame there are only 5 stars on Maps, this place deserves 10 stars.
Thirdly, after dining with giraffes I couldn’t resist but mention the Daphne Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage. Well dining with giraffes is cool but what about feeding and petting elephants. Yep, you actually pet and feed baby elephants. I kid you not, this is one of the most fun places to be in Kenya. Here’s a link to a sample picture of this place.
There are so many places that people could visit to interact with nature while in Nairobi. Some of the other notable places are Karura Forest and Ngong Hills. The experiences there are equally great. And there are also opportunities to get those great landscape and wildlife shots for photograph lovers.
Aside from the animals and flora, Nairobi also offers some other cool modern activities. Some notable places include the Lang’ata GP Karting where you can go and race with a bunch of friends. There are even professional races in the weekends at night. The karts are well maintained and so much fun to race with friends. Fun’s in the air here, oh! and adrenaline, lots of adrenaline. Picture link
But the most interesting of all is the Panari Ice Rink. Winter in the tropics, they call it. The rink is very well maintained and clean. Opened to the public almost every day. The prices are equally very pocket friendly, around 10 dollars for a one hour session. They provide the skating and protective gears. The staff are friendly and the location is very photogenic. It’s really cold though. But I bet you won’t notice due to the much fun you’ll be having.
The Nairobi Railways Museum is also another great place to visit. There are old rusty trains and generally the history of the emergence of the railway system in East Africa. The place is really photogenic and like really cheap to enter.
There are so many other fun activities and places to visit in Nairobi that I can’t exhaust all of them in this post. But to wrap the list up I think K1 Flea Market is worth a mention. The place where art meets food meets awesome. A really great buzzing place to spice up your weekend, experience Kenyan cuisine and night life.
Nairobi as a city is generally just beautiful and the people are nice. The architecture of the city has really changed in the recent years. Most people view Africa as this huge jungle with no major developments. Africa and especially Kenya is a really developed place and guaranteed to make those unforgettable moments in your life.
The night life in Nairobi is just something else. There’s a saying locally, Kenya’s a drinking partying nation. This was never exaggerated, literally every single day you’ll find thousands of Kenyans partying and there’s an event for each day be it Monday or Sunday.
The main mode of transport in Nairobi is through buses that people refer to as “matatu” and the matatu culture in Kenya is no joke, it’s so big that it was featured in the New York Times.
As a local guide I find all these activities interesting and worth sharing be it on Google Maps or this platform and if you are ever in Nairobi, I encourage you to visit any of the places mentioned here and contribute to maps. I was born in Mombasa, another incredible coastal town in Kenya. Living in Nairobi, it’s the reviews of other local guides that help me discover these hidden gems to help me experience the city like never before. Every weekend I make sure that I visit a new place and document my findings on Google Local Guides one review at a time. So lets continue sharing and guiding others #letsguide
! I have just been recorded in the list of countries I want to visit:page_with_curl:. I want to have a meal with Kirin and want to take pictures of wild animals in big cities:green_salad:
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