Nairobi National Park Half-Day Game Drive

Nairobi National Park: Kenya's First Park

Nairobi National Park was gazetted in 1946, the first national park in Kenya, and it remains unique: its northern boundary is a fence along the city's southern suburbs, about seven kilometres from the central business district, while the southern side is open to the Athi-Kapiti plains so that wildlife can still migrate in and out with the rains. The park covers roughly 117 square kilometres of open grass plains, acacia scrub, a strip of dry upland forest near the main gate and the Mbagathi River valley along its southern edge.

For anyone asking how to get to Nairobi National Park, the answer is simply a short drive down Langata Road to the main gate, which is why a half-day game drive works so well. Park gates open at 06:00 and close at 19:00, and the entry ticket is paid at the gate by card. We handle the drive, the paperwork and the route; you only need your passport.

The Wildlife of the Park

Despite its size the park holds an impressive range of animals. It is one of Kenya's most successful rhino sanctuaries, with both black and white rhinos seen regularly on the open plains. Several lion prides live here, cheetahs hunt on the grassland, leopards hide in the riverine forest and there are large herds of buffalo, Maasai giraffes, plains zebras, elands, Coke's hartebeest, impalas and Thomson's gazelles. Hippos and crocodiles live in the Mbagathi River at the Hippo Pools, and the birdlife is rich, from ostriches and secretary birds to crowned cranes and vultures at the dams.

What you will not see are elephants, which the park is too small to hold. Sightings are never guaranteed, but a dawn start gives the best chance of lions and rhinos before they settle in the shade, while the afternoon drive is excellent for giraffes, buffalo and the light over the plains.

The Game Drive and the Best Time to Go

The drive itself lasts around three and a half to four hours inside the park, following murram tracks that loop through the forest near the main gate, out onto the plains with the skyline behind, down to the dams where animals come to drink, and along the river to the Hippo Pools and the Athi Basin viewpoint. The open-roof van lets everyone stand while stopped, and the driver-guide shares radio reports from other vehicles to find the day's best sightings. Wi-Fi on board lets you share photographs on the way out.

The best time to visit Nairobi National Park is the dry season, January to March and July to October, when grass is short and animals gather at the water. The green months after the rains are beautiful too, with newborn animals, but tracks can be muddy. Morning drives start at 06:00 or 06:30; afternoon drives at 13:00 or 13:30.

Langata and the Park's Surroundings

The main gate sits on Langata Road beside the Kenya Wildlife Service headquarters, in the green south-western part of Nairobi where most of the city's wildlife attractions are gathered. The elephant orphanage and the Giraffe Centre are a short drive away, the Bomas of Kenya cultural centre and the Karen suburb are just beyond, and the Ngong Hills form the horizon to the west. Inside the park near the gate stands the Ivory Burning Site monument, where Kenya publicly burned confiscated ivory in 1989 to signal its stand against poaching.

Because of this geography the half-day game drive combines easily with other Nairobi plans: a morning drive before an afternoon flight, or an afternoon drive after a morning at the orphanage. If you want the park together with the orphanage and the Giraffe Centre in one day, see our full-day Nairobi tour; for the park on its own, this is the tour to book.