The Nairobi Tour Circuit

Nairobi is Kenya's capital and largest city. The name Nairobi comes from a Maasai phrase ‘Enkare Nairobi’ which means ‘cool water’ attributed to the city's Nairobi river. Nairobi boasts of a rich culture and heritage, a beautiful national park and many more. It is the only city in the world that has a national park.

Some of the various attractions within Nairobi City include:

Located 10km from the city center, Bomas is a cultural village whose name in Swahili means ‘enclosed homesteads’. Bomas displays villages that are affiliated to the various ethnic communities in Kenya. It exhibits the diversity in culture, living styles, crafts, music and dancing in Kenya. It is also home to the largest auditorium in Africa.

A visit to this place is a chance to explore the thrilling traditional dances as well as acrobatics and African foods at Utamaduni restaurant.

At the foot of Ngong Hills lies one of Nairobi’s top tourist attraction site. Karen Blixen museum, is a former home to the ‘out of Africa’ author Karen Blixen.

She lived in the house from 1917-1931 where she established a coffee farm. Visitors get to tour and learn more about the colonial farm house and see the coffee drying plant.

Also showcased are furniture, photographs and books that belonged to Karen and her husband as well as the agricultural college that she established.

Located at the Museum Hill, few minutes drive from city center is the Nairobi National Museum. It is easily accessible by both public and private means. The Museum is the flagship museum for the National Museums of Kenya and it houses collections of the Kenyan history, heritage, culture, nature and art. It is also famous as a distinctive venue for events such as workshops, cocktails, conferences among others.

Also located at the Nairobi national museum is the Snake Park with live specimens of Kenya’s most common reptiles as well as Botanical Gardens ideal for a nature walk.

The Railway Museum in Kenya boasts of a rich history of the railroad in Kenya and its role in the growth of the nation. The museum exhibits fascinating collections of train and ship models, photographs from the original construction of the Uganda railway, railway magazines, maps and drawings. Also displayed is a collection of steam locomotives and rolling stock.

Nairobi National Park is the only national park in the world that is located in a city. The park is home to Africa’s rich wildlife such as lions, gazelles, buffaloes, warthogs, cheetahs, zebras and giraffes among others. It also has over 400 species of birds hence making it a perfect destination for birding.

Additionally, the park features walking trails especially the Nairobi Safari Walk, picnic sites as well as campsites. At the main gate of Nairobi National Park is the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust nursery, where visitors get a chance to bond with baby elephants and orphaned rhinos.

The Giraffe Centre is located in Lang’ata, Nairobi. It was created in order to protect the highly endangered Rothschild’s giraffes found on the grasslands of Africa.

Here tourists can interact and hand-feed the giraffes from a raised wooden structure, spot warthogs snorting about in the mud and take a nature walk on the self-guided forest walk through the adjacent Gogo river bird sanctuary.

Just next to Giraffe center is Giraffe manor, an exclusive hotel, best known for its resident herd of Rothschild’s giraffes. The giraffes are known to visit in the morning and evening, poking their long necks into windows hoping for a treat before retreating to their forest sanctuary. Activities in the manor include; encounter with giraffes, horse riding and learn about the local culture and history.

The Nairobi gallery is a gazetted monument that sits at the city center. The national monument displays temporary art exhibits and the Murumbi African heritage collections.

The historic house in which the gallery is found was constructed in 1913. It was the PC 's office building and was commonly referred to as ‘Hatches, Matches and Dispatches’ since births, marriages and deaths that were recorded there.

The Murumbi African Heritage collection entails ancient sculptures, paintings, and artifacts from the diverse African cultures. This collection was obtained by Joseph and Sheila Murumbi whose biographies are also told in one of the galleries.

This is a museum located in the Nairobi city center that highlights Kenyan tribal culture, heritage, rich history and politics. It also displays historical documents, collections of photographs, art as well as postage stamps. Also found in the building is a reading room used for personal as well as professional projects.

The KICC is a 29-storey building located in the city square of Nairobi. The eye catching landmark is an internationally known venue for conferences, meetings and exhibitions among other special events. The building has hosted various international conferences, seminars, exhibitions and summits.

The building’s roof top has an amazing viewing platform for the city that is also ideal for taking beautiful photos.

Karura forest, one of the largest urban forests in the world, is a perfect destination for nature walks, bike riding as well as picnics. It provides a perfect environment to interact with nature, watch monkeys climb over the trees and see indigenous trees found in the forest.

Karura is also ideal for quiet meditation at the lily lake or enjoying the waterfall in the forest.

Ngong Hills form the peaks of a ridge that overlooks the great Rift Valley and it is in this hills that most of the white settlers established their farms during the colonial periods. The hills offer several walking trails and panoramic views. They are also home to several wild animals including buffaloes, gazelles, wild pigs, dik-diks and porcupine. The place is also ideal for hiking with several trails available for hikers. Below is a Wikiloc trail on one of the trails at Ngong hills.

Visit the site and get a chance to explore the flora and fauna that the attraction offers. The flora includes exotic and indigenous trees like pine, cypress and acacia.

Nairobi, tourism scene is vast with ever growing destinations. A visit around the city, therefore guarantees a never before experience, which one should not let pass. Below is a map showing the different location and details of Nairobi based travel agents and tour operators who can guide and take travelers through the Nairobi destination and beyond.