National Parks Africa » Nairobi National Park

Nairobi National Park is unique for its location, barely six kilometres (four miles) from the centre of a capital city. Created in 1946, it was the first park in Kenya and stretches a modest 120 square kilometres (48 square miles) south from Nairobi to the Mbagathi Athi River system. Completely wild but tranquil animals can be seen grazing or hunting against the Nairobi skyline, while jet aircraft from all over Africa, Europe and the Far East make their final approach to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. To the west, at the very edge of the Great Rift Valley, the gently saw-toothed Ngong Hills rise to an altitude of 2,458 metres (8,070 feet). On the northehorizon, beyond the city, one can see the Aberdares mountain range and to the east, on a clear morning, the peak of Mount Kenya. Being so close to the city, the park attracts many visitors on day trips and earns enough money to help subsidize some of the more remote protected areas.

City living:
Almost 37 kilometres (23 miles) of fencing along the park’s western boundary prevents wildlife from straying into human settlements and the rapidly-expanding and not very attractive industrial area. To the south, migratory wildebeest, zebras and Coke’s hartebeest (kongoni) enter and leave the park more or less freely through the Kitengela portion of the of the northern Athi-Kapiti plains. Their movements depend on the availability of grazing and water: the animals are mostly out of the park during the short (November) and long (April) rains. As the pastures dry out, the animals pull back north into the park, until their density appears to rival that of the Serengeti herds. Absolute numbers are much less, however, and there are now fewer wildebeest and zebra than there used to be in the whole ecosystem which once stretched as far as Thika and the whale-shaped hill, 01 Doinyo Sabuk, which can be seen in the distance to the north-east.

Developments of farm buildings, rural residences and fences along the south-western edge of the park have raised fears that this free movement of animals could be affected which would make Nairobi’s famous park no more then a big zoo. It is hoped that land use development policies will take into account the future of the park and its role in the annual movements of the migratory grazers, as well as its enormous potential as a money-earner for surrounding citizens.

Plant power:
Though small, the park has a good variety of habitats. It slopes from about 1,740 metres (5,712 feet) in the western forest down to approximately 1,500 metres (4,925 feet) in the south-eastern plains. Forest in the west occupies almost 6 percent of the land and receives a rainfall of 700 mm to 1,100 mm (27 inches to 43 inches) a year, compared to the much drier southeastern tip. Tree species in the forest include crotons, Kenya olive, yellow-flowered, long-seeded mark haemia, and Cape chestnut, with its lavender bunches of blossoms. Forested areas are home to at least a dozen black rhinos, some of which have been transported from less friendly neighbourhoods, buffalos and giraffe. Smaller wildlife such as dikdik, suni, duiker and bushbuck can also be seen here.

Bisected by valleys, the plains have less rainfall about 500 mm to 700 mm (19 inches to 21 inches). They are covered with one of the most characteristic grassland types of the region, composed of Themeda (red oat grass) and Setaria, spotted with acacias, desert dates (Balanites) and the occasional arrow-poison tree (Akocantha) which are dark green and often stunted looking from years of harvesting branches for rendering the bark into poison. Visitors are allowed out of their cars at Observation Hill, a spectacular spot on the forest edge overlooking the central plain. From here herds of wildebeest, gazelle and zebra can be easily observed.

In the open grassland just under the hill, a well-studied male ostrich, "Pointy-head", has held his territory for years, and he or his successor can usually be seen entertaining delighted onlookers by dancing to female ostriches or chasing off rival males.

The southern part of the park is crisscrossed by ridges, valleys and plains. Cliffs fall for about 100 metres (330 feet) to the valley floor. In the dry season, wildlife gather to drink at the isolated pools left in the gorges. The gorge cliffs, some of which are quite spectacular and attractive to rock-climbers, have vegetation ranging from cacti and bushes to grasses and moss. They are lined with acacia trees browsed by giraffe. Buffalo and rhino can be found here, together with lion and leopard. The latter feed on the numerous hyraxes which inhabit the cliff faces in, among other places, Hyrax Gorge.

The southern and eastern ends of the park consist of acacia wooded grassland bound by the Nairobi-Mombasa road and the Mbagathi River. This modestbut perennial river becomes the Athi, which runs into the Galana, which becomes the Sabaki and eventually runs into the Indian Ocean just a little north of Malindi.

Trailing the animals:
Visitors can park their cars and follow a 1.5-kilometre nature trail along the banks of the river which leads to a series of hippo and crocodile inhabited pools. Hippos usually give themselves away by their loud snorting. During the day animals stay submerged in the water and only come out at night to graze. Hippo trails can be seen etched into the bank. A few crocodiles can also be seen swimming about or sunning on banks, as well as impalas and hundreds of vervet monkeys. Another, slightly longer trail meanders through stands of yellow barked fever acacias (Acacia xanthophloea) and their greenish-barked cousins, Acacia kirkii.

Birds are abundant at the edge of water, including kingfishers, darters, storks, herons, saddlebill storks and ibises. Hammerkops and beautiful crowned cranes are also common. The open plain features birds like ostriches, marabou storks, cattle egrets, secretary birds and vultures.

The best time of year to visit is during the dry seasons, in February-March and again in August-September, in order to catch the return of the antelope herds that disperse southwards towards the Athi plains during the rains and return to the park to gather around the permanent water holes. Big cats and impalas are permanent residents; wildebeest, kongoni, zebra and to a lesser extent giraffe are migratory. There is a strong chance of seeing lion, cheetah, buffalo and rhino.

Nairobi National Park is an excellent introduction to the art and sport of wildlife viewing. Tours lasting four or five hours are available from most tour companies and can be taken either in the morning or afternoon. They can be arranged through any of the big hotels in Nairobi. Roads in the park are murram, but are kept in very good condition, so even small rental vehicles cancarry you to an away-from-it-all experience in the morning, and back to the more intense experience of bargaining for local handicrafts in the Nairobi market before lunch.