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.