Sightseeing in Nairobi

Sightseeing in Nairobi starts from an oddity. A national park, Kenya's first, opened in 1946, sits about 7 km from the centre, and its southern edge is left open to the Athi-Kapiti plains so that animals can move through. An elephant orphanage founded in 1977 raises orphaned calves inside it. Rothschild's giraffes are fed from a raised platform at the Giraffe Centre. In the suburb of Karen, generally said to be named after her, stands the house of Karen Blixen, who farmed coffee at the foot of the Ngong Hills until 1931. Karura Forest, an urban forest north of the centre, was defended in 1998 and 1999 against the handing out of its land by a campaign that Wangari Maathai led.

Nairobi sightseeing tours begin with the half-day game drive, in a pop-up van or an open Land Cruiser, which also runs as a layover trip that fits between flights. Combined days add the orphanage, the Giraffe Centre, Blixen's house, a bead workshop and the Bomas of Kenya dance show in different mixes, running six to ten hours. Out of town, one-day trips go to Hell's Gate and Lake Naivasha by bike and boat, to Lake Nakuru, to Ol Pejeta and its chimpanzee sanctuary, to the crater rim of Mount Longonot and to a tea farm at Limuru. Amboseli by road is a fifteen-hour day, and the Mara by air about twelve.

Practical. Days stay between 22C and 28C all year and nights between 9C and 15C, with July and August the coolest. Visits to the orphanage are short and arranged in advance. Mount Longonot is a hike of four to six hours round the rim, steep in places, so carry water. Lake Nakuru's flamingos follow the water level, and when it is too low or too high they leave for other soda lakes such as Bogoria.