Nairobi Travel Guide

Nairobi is a place of enormous energy and the gateway to some of Africa's best adventures. The city centre buzzes with the aspirations and opportunism of moneychangers, safari touts and vendors, and is a bold counterpoint to the natural beauty that covers other parts of the country.

Kenyatta Avenue is the city's favourite tourist image, with the broad roadway fringed by trees and flowers originally designed to allow a twelve-oxen team to make a full turn. There are several museums and places of interest in the centre, including the National Museum and Snake Park.

Visitors will find numerous markets selling traditional crafts, especially the popular Masai Market, and the nearby Bomas of Kenya host performances of traditional dancing and singing. The Langata Giraffe Centre offers guests the chance to hand-feed the Rothschild's giraffes that inhabit the area.

The Nairobi National Park lies on the southern outskirts of the city and gives an outstanding preview of what Kenya has to offer as a safari destination. Many of Africa's most iconic creatures wander the grasslands against a backdrop of shimmering skyscrapers, including lions, hyenas, leopards, cheetahs, zebra, and the world's densest concentration of black rhinos. Around 400 bird species reside within the park's wetland areas; hippos usually occupy a pool at the confluence of the Mbagathi and Athi rivers.