Make time for Nairobi

With the thrill of wildlife and wilderness awaiting you on a safari holiday, it’s easy to overlook Nairobi as a necessary but unremarkable hopping point between home and your ultimate destination. But the Kenyan capital shouldn’t be underestimated – you might just find that the city adds a surprisingly rich cultural element to your trip.

Nairobi is a buzzing city with variety and charm in abundance. Its British colonial past, Indian heritage and a diversity of communities combine to create a vibrant, cosmopolitan feel. Churches, mosques and temples share their places among the streets. There is also a strong sense of Nairobi as a modern, throbbing commercial centre, this being the hub of East Africa’s economic activity. This is evident in the scattering of skyscrapers you see, a vision you might not immediately match with the African skyline.

The bright lights of the Kenyan capital

The jumble of cultural influences makes for some inspiring culinary options for visitors. Plenty of great Asian restaurants can be found, with fans of Indian, Thai, Chinese and Japanese cuisine being well catered for. And naturally, traditional African menus are also widely available, serving everything from delicately spiced seafood offerings and eminently local ostrich and crocodile dishes.

As for accommodation, Nairobi provides something you might not get during the rest of your holiday – the chance to stay in a hotel. Luxury camps may well await you in later days but why not make the most of some urban civilisation too? At Africa House, we like to show you some of the best hotels Nairobi has to offer. One of those is the House of Waine, a boutique hotel in the Karen district which offers comfort, top facilities, great food, and a rarity for big city accommodation – glorious green open space.


Nairobi's House of Waine hotel

There’s plenty to keep you stimulated during your stay in the city. As well as ample shopping and sightseeing opportunities, there are some fascinating visitor attractions to check out. The Karen Blixen Museum allows you to explore the home and personal belongings of the author who did so much to romanticise Kenya through her touching memoir ‘Out of Africa’.

And it’s not just out on safari that the wildlife experiences happen in Kenya. Nairobi is unusual for a major city in that it has a game reserve, Nairobi National Park, right on its doorstep. Here resides an attraction which many an Africa House guest has loved: Daphne Sheldricks’s Elephant Orphanage. This organisation takes in baby elephants which have lost their parents from throughout Kenya. It’s a chance not only to support the commendable work which goes on here but also to witness the irresistibly cute sight of baby elephants playing and feeding.

While visiting the elephants, we also take guests to visit the nearby Giraffe Centre, run by the African Fund for Endangered Wildlife Kenya. You can support and learn about this organisation’s efforts to protect giraffes and enjoy the really fun part – getting close to the gorgeous towering animals themselves.

Three essential African reads

There are dozens of books out there which provide an insight into east Africa, from novels which draw on the region's magical atmosphere to books designed to offer a practical guide to visiting. If you're looking to be inpired and informed ahead of your own safari adventure, you can't go far wrong with the following three books, each a classic in its own genre.

OUT OF AFRICA – Karen Blixen

This all-time classic is the nostalgic memoir of one Danish woman’s time in Kenya. The book, which inspired the multi-Oscar-winning movie of the same name, is an absorbing recollection on Blixen’s years spent running a coffee plantation. It offers an affectionate account of 1930’s African life and a beautifully poetic look at the people, wildlife and landscapes of Kenya.

THE SAFARI COMPANION – Richard D. Estes

For anyone keen to really understand Africa’s game wildlife, The Safari Companion is the definitive field guide. This comprehensive and detailed volume tells you everything you could want to know about the continent’s mammals, from gazelles to gorillas, warthogs to wildebeest. It provides tips on how best to view each species, maps of where to find them and a scientific insight to their social behaviour. A wildlife fanatic’s dream, this book will equip you with the knowledge to impress even your Africa House Safari guide!

EAST AFRICA (Lonely Planet Multi Country Guide)

For overall travel guides, you can’t go wrong with the trusty Lonely Planet series. And the East Africa volume provides a wealth of invaluable information for you to digest. There are all the useful facts you’d expect on things like health, currency and climate. You can also do some background reading about the fascinating cultures and histories of Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and their neighbours. As well as being a handy reference whilst in Africa, this book could also be a useful starting point for deciding where in East Africa you’d like Africa House to take you and what you’d most like to see and do when you’re here.

Migration news

It’s that time of year again when one of the greatest wildlife spectacles in Kenya – and on Earth – takes place. The first waves of migrating wildebeest arrived last month at the Mara River to make the treacherous crossing over the water from the Serengeti into the Masai Mara. Herds of zebras added their mass monochromatic decoration to the busy scene as they followed behind.

Masses of wildebeest and zebras have made their way
into the Masai Mara.

We have been lucky to see the action unfold while in the Masai Mara with guests again this year. And the groups we’ve hosted have been treated to some of the most dramatic scenes we remember seeing here in July. The sheer number of animals making the crossing has been striking, with thousands upon thousands of wildebeest already seen struggling to traverse the Mara River. There has been an awesome sense of excitement in the camp – and a wonderful show for the big family group and a regular Africa House safari-goer who have been here with us during these magical few weeks.

This movement into the Masai Mara is part of a wider circular migration which takes place in East Africa every year. Over a million wildebeest, together with hundreds of thousands of zebras and gazelle, make the continuous journey in search of fresh grass to eat. The animals follow a clockwise path around the Serengeti ecosystem of Tanzania and the smaller Masai Mara region which extends into Kenya.

The river crossings, which begin at variable times around the middle of the year, are considered a highlight of the migration. Large concentrations of the travelling animals gather to make the dangerous swim across the Mara and Talek rivers, facing the threat of crocodiles from below and the prospect of lions and cheetahs at the other side. This spectacle shows African nature at its most bountiful and most brutal.