Cheetahs at the Nairobi animal orphanage /MERCY NJOKI
Nairobi, Kenya’s capital city, prides itself on being the “green city under the sun”. Unlike many other cities, stretches of lush greenery stand in quiet contrast to a fast-rising skyline. And at the heart of this green city lies a national park.
Did you know that Nairobi is the only capital city in the world with a national park? And it is not just a park. It is home to over 400 species of birds, more than 100 mammals and many other animal categories, including reptiles and amphibians.
But first, let’s take a pause on the statistics and allow me to take you through what a day inside Nairobi National Park looks like. Shall we?
Trip days are the most exciting for me and the day I decided it’s high time to explore my city, I made the most out of it. Nairobi National Park being only 10 kilometres from the CBD made the journey so much easier.
It took me 20 minutes via taxi to get there, and what stood out was the drastic shift from the central business district to the destination itself. Switching from the bustling, noise-filled environment of matatus, traffic and hawkers, to the calm, quiet haven located in Lang’ata felt like a quantum leap.
The feeling? Oh, it was amazing! A much-needed weekend of peace and tranquillity was all it was after a long, nerve-wracking week. The best part is that Nairobi National Park offers a wide range of experiences from game drives in the park, to the animal orphanage where rescued wildlife tell their own stories of survival, and there is also a safari walk section that gives you the freedom to walk right into the wildlife’s ecosystem and watch how they behave in their natural habitat.
I opted to visit the Nairobi Safari Walk and the Nairobi Animal Orphanage, each costing about Sh300. The fee, however, tends to vary from time to time. Talk about value for money.
One thing that was hard to miss was how fresh the air was as soon as I stepped through the entrance. If you live in Nairobi, you know what I mean because on the other side of the city, you will be inhaling all sorts of gases, from vehicles to factories, restaurants and dust as well.
Inside the park, the experience is wholesome and unfolds in moments. I saw giraffes move slowly across the savanna, while a few metres away, a group of antelopes, gazelles and zebras fed on the tall grass within.
In the furthest end, one lion lay peacefully on the grass, while in the animal orphanage section, I found a lion and a lioness feeding on a huge chunk of meat. This was the most remarkable moment. It felt like a scene from a movie, and I couldn’t stop thinking about the famous Lion King Movie. Maybe it should have been shot here in Kenya instead because that moment was raw, unscripted and authentic.
Nairobi National Park also prides itself in being home to the Big Five but in this case, we might say the Big Four because the only animal absent is the elephant. The elephant prefers to live in bigger parks. For those keen on seeing this enormous beauty, you will find them in Amboseli National Park, Mount Kenya National Park and Tsavo National Park, among others.
By the time I left the park, the city no longer felt the same. There was something grounding about spending time in nature, surrounded by wildlife and realising there is more to Nairobi than the constant noise and rush of busy schedules.
If you may ask, I highly recommend you take a day off and explore this park at ‘The world’s only wildlife capital”.
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