In this video, we visit Nairobi, easily the largest city in East Africa, and also the youngest, the most modern, the fastest growing and, at nearly 1,700m in altitude, the highest. The city’s name is derived from the Maasai phrase “Enkare Nairobi”, or, “cool water”, a reference to the Nairobi River, which flows through the city.
As the political, financial and media capital of Kenya, Nairobi is both a transit point that most travellers to the country will pass through, and a worthy opportunity for exploration in its own right.
On the one hand, it is home to thousands of Kenyan businesses and over 100 major international companies and organisations, including the United Nations Environment Programme and the United Nations Office at Nairobi. On the other, it is worth remembering how quickly you can leave the city and be in the bush to enjoy the natural beauty within reach.
For visitors, most of the interest around Nairobi lies to the south and southwest, in the predominantly Maasai land that begins with Nairobi National Park, literally on the city’s doorstep. It makes an excellent day-trip and includes the watershed ridge of the Ngong Hills just outside the city in neighbouring Kajiado County. It’s a striking landscape, vividly described in Karen Blixen’s ‘Out of Africa’.
Southeast, beyond the shanty suburb of Dandora, are the wide Athi plains, while in the southwest, meanwhile, a trip to Lake Magadi will take you into a beautiful, stark part of the Rift Valley.
Highlights that belong on your Nairobi itinerary, include:
- Nairobi National Park to search for wild lions and rhinos within sight of skyscrapers.
- David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust to bottle-feeding a group of orphaned baby elephants.
- Karen Blixen’s House & Museum to peek at a real-live site from ‘Out of Africa’.
- National Museum to deepen your understanding of all things Kenyan.
- Kibera to understand how much of Nairobi lives by visiting one of Africa’s largest shanty towns.
- Giraffe Centre to meet an endangered Rothschild’s giraffe.
- Kazuri Beads & Pottery Centre to learn all about beads and support a fabulous project at the same time.
- Kenyatta International Conference Centre to view Nairobi in all its sprawling, chaotic glory.
View the original video here.
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