If you are looking for a place of diversity of wildlife, culture, and historical landmarks and sites all in a single place, then look no further than Nairobi. Situated in the East African nation of Kenya, Nairobi is the capital city and the commercial and administrative center. Kenya is considered the safari capital of the world or the home of safari. However, this country offers more than just safari, and the Nairobi city tour further affirms this.
This city stretches its development and foundation to the early times of 1899, when Kenya was still a British protectorate. Nairobi city emerged from a small railway workers’ camp of the British to a commercial town. Years later grew economically as the biggest commercial hub of the region and the main capital of British East Africa.
Nairobi city is situated about 140 kilometers south of the equator in the south-central region of Kenya. This city is considered the most developed city in the entire East African region. And this statement seems to be hypothesized, but a tour through this city of Nairobi is enough to convince anyone. This city is very gifted with a wide range of attractions that are the very reason for many visitors coming.
Attractions of a Nairobi city tour
From further up, the modest cities of the world, Nairobi city writes its name among the great cities. A city tour strengthens this city as a flawless destination for diverse discoveries and entertaining adventures for visitors. The variety of attractions to see on a Nairobi city tour is as follows.
Nairobi National Park
The one thing that sets Nairobi city apart from other modern cities across the region and the world, it is that this city is the only city that has a functioning national park close to it. Nairobi National Park is located about 10 kilometers from the city center. This park was named after Nairobi and offers a wide range of attractions in itself. This park is one of the smallest protected areas in the country.
To give you a context of how close Nairobi National Park is to the capital city, Nairobi, the park can be accessed in just about 20-30 minutes. Nairobi National Park hosts a wide range of wildlife species, with the notable ones being lions, buffaloes, rhinos, gazelles, giraffes, zebras, warthogs, ostriches, and cheetahs, among others. This national park offers a unique wildlife adventure experience, shadowed by the city’s skyscrapers. In addition to the wildlife, this park hosts over 400 bird species, making it an ideal destination for birding on a city tour.
Karen Blixen museum
At the base of the Ngong Hills in the heart of Nairobi city, there lies a structure literally frozen in time, the Karen Blixen museum. Constructed in the early 1900s, this museum was initially a colonial home of Karen Blixen. Karen Blixen was a Danish lady who had travelled to Kenya in 1914 after her marriage. She started up a coffee plantation farm that she managed during her time in Kenya. In 1931, she returned to her home country following the collapse of the coffee farm. She is the author of Out of Africa, published in 1934.
The Karen Blixen museum showcases some of the artefacts of her work when she was still living in this house. Furniture and other artefacts that belonged to Karen are portrayed in this museum, looking like frozen in time. This well-preserved colonial coffee farm shows the earlier years of colonialism in Kenya.
Nairobi National Museum
The Nairobi National Museum is another important attraction to see and explore on a Nairobi city tour. This museum is a national treasure, showcasing artifacts that date back a thousand years. It exhibits both cultural and natural historical gems, like fossils of elephant remains and others obtained from Lake Turkana. Culturally, the museum displays the various tribes in Kenya and their different evolution that explains their existence now. The museum also exhibits important geological facts about volcanic rock formations. A visit to this park is not just entertaining, but also very educational.
David and Daphne Sheldrick elephant orphanage
This elephant orphanage is located in the city of Nairobi, close to the Nairobi National Park. This orphanage focuses on rescuing orphaned baby elephants from national parks and reserves across the country. While at this orphanage, the baby elephants are hand-reared through bottle milk feeding. This private care is done until the elephant is mature enough to be taken back to the wild. This orphanage is run and funded by the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust as a conservation and rehabilitation center for the orphaned elephants. It is also an ideal place to explore and take part in looking after the orphaned and injured baby elephants while on a Nairobi city tour.
Giraffe center
Situated in Langata, on the outskirts of Nairobi city, in just 20 kilometers, the Giraffe center is an epic sight to add to what to see on a Nairobi city tour. This Giraffe center invites visitors from across the world to take part in feeding and spending time with giraffes. This center was established as a sanctuary for the endangered Rothschild giraffes. This specific giraffe species has registered a threatening decline in population to under 1,600 in the wild today. This center was set up to help and revamp their numbers. This center also has other wildlife species like warthogs and antelopes.
Railway museum
While on a Nairobi city tour, visitors can check out the railway museum. This museum shows the history of the railway industry in Kenya and its development over the years. The museum displays railway materials, such as the train lamps that were first used. Other important artifacts are the first tickets issued, photographs of the first construction works of the Uganda railway, among others. The museum also contains an important train carriage that was significantly used by Captain Charles Ryall as he hunted man-eaters of the Uganda railway workers. It is this same carriage that he fell from before being killed by the lions of Tsavo.