Nairobi National Park

We loved it.

Being so close to the city it was amazing to see so many wild creatures. The park does not have the numbers other parks do and there are no Elephants there at all. But it can only hold so much with the restricted landscape. They could use an infusion of some species though. And it turned out to be our best place to get close Vulture images.
Lions were seen on every trip in there and it was fun to hang at the waterhole for long periods as many animals come & go. After a three week safari in other parts of the country we did see our only Mamba here !
For anyone who does not have time to visit other parks, it is a great place to go.
It was kind of weird having a Giraffe image with large city building & landing planes in the background.

Not so far, but so good

I arrived in Kenya last December. I'm a country representative for a NGO working in Soweto slum, Kahawa West. There is no much time to travel and enjoy the beauty of this country. Still, being here I've been collecting a bunch of business cards from tourist agencies - just in case. At the beginning of July, with two volunteers and my best friend, we decided to take a Sunday off to the Nairobi National Park. After a long run of calls to the above-mentioned agencies, we found the one offering the best deal.
At 9 am, we were entering the main Park's gate and after few hundred meters the first hippo and a crowd of white big birds welcomed us nearby a pond. We had a minivan with an opening roof, the view was stunning with the skyscrapers contrasting with the wildlife around us. Plenty of giraffes, zebras, gnus, elands, gazelles and impalas are to be seen all around the park. The giraffes are incredibly elegant and charming while the zebras are covered with the most fashionable animal dresses: much better than a parade in Milan or Paris.
When the sun rose high in the sky, the animals were gathering around water basins. We approached a stunning black rhino and, at the sun peak, we saw three young lions (two females and a male) leaving the shadow of the tree and heading towards a fresher place.
The park is quite magical and seeing the capitol's skyscrapers in the background is such a rare contrast.
Tips: find a smart driver who knows the areas within the park and animals' behaviors.

Get close to the animals at Nairobi National Park

Nairobi National Park is a great place to go if you want to see Kenyan animals up close - the animals are rather used to cars and therefore come closer than they do in other parks while still being wild.
You can make the experience into exactly what you want to - if you just want an escape from Nairobi for a couple of hours or if you want to bring a picknick and stay there the whole day. As with all safaris, it is best to go in the early morning or late evening to increase your chances of seeing animals. When I went, I did however go in the middle of the day and still saw plenty of animals (even lioness with cubs).
The day started out sunny but soon rain clouds gathered creating a beautifully dramatic landscape. Even though Nairobi National Park is smaller than other parks in Kenya, you can still feel like you are far off from the city at times - in some parts of the park you can get beautiful pictures of animals with the city skyline as a backdrop and in other parts you feel like you are in the middle of no where.
If in Nairobi, I would definitely recommend going to the Nairobi National Park but you should also take the opportunity and go to some of the larger parks / game reserves in Kenya. My favorite so far is Buffalo Springs but I have still to many more to visit! Something to keep in mind is that KWS (Kenya Wildlife Service) parks are much more expensive than other parks, especially for a non-resident, which is something to keep in mind when planning a trip to Kenya. But it's worth going!

I would not choose this place as a single destination

Great half-day trip from Nairobi

I went to the park without expecting to see the Big Five, but hoping to have a nice, short, manageable experience in the outdoors on my first trip to Africa. My hotel organized a guide for me, but I only had the afternoon available, which isn't usually ideal. My guide was not terribly knowledgeable about the birds, but he was very good at finding the animals, and we saw all kinds of things. It started slowly, with glimpses of some hippos in a pond (so he said, I wouldn't swear to it), then some giraffe, then ostriches, several different types of gazelle (some quite close), zebra, wildebeest and warthogs, secretary bird, white-eyed eagle (?), a couple of Black Rhino ambling under the acacia trees, and finally, as the grand finale, an adult male lion sitting just beside the road watching the zebras, and eventually crossing just in front of the jeep.
By all accounts this was a pretty exceptional day at the park, but even without the rhino and the lion, it was a beautiful spot, especially in the evening, and a really delightful way to spend a free afternoon in Nairobi. Definitely exceeded my expectations.

Very versatile wildlife including lions, rhinos, all sorts of antilopes etc. You have to be very lucky to spot a cheetah or leopard. Extremely easily accessible from Nairobi but can be rather busy on weekends.

Skyscrapers and lions side by side

Nairobi National Park is a nice park. Here you get the opportunity to see wildlife in the bush, accompanied by tall buildings and city landscape.

The park is a very good park for viewing lions. It is also a sanctuary for endangered rihnos, so the chances are pretty high for spotting rihnos. It also offers a wide range of landscapes, with forest, plains, river and a small lake.

To walk on the paths with a KWS-guard to look for crocodiles and hippos in the river is reccomended.

The park also has an advantage with not beeing to big. It is a nice park to drive by yourself, without a safariguide.

Highly reccomended park to visit!

Miles better than airport hotel

We arrived here at the lodge 90 minutes after landing with dinner waiting at 2300. Next morning at 0600 we were on our first game drive. The ranger was excellent and vechicles comfortable. In 2 drives and a walk we saw 51 birds and 17 mammals including lion with the city as a back drop!!!!

The lodge was comfortable and the food was excellent

Great way to start a trip

Beautiful

Nairobi National Park is the perfect destination for Nairobi residents and tourists who dont want to travel far from the capital city to see wildlife. the weather was perfect during my day of visit. and from the look of the scenery it seemed like its mostly like that. (calm weather.) we saw a variety of wildlife including lions which was my main wildlife i was eager to see. Overall rating, i would give Nairobi National park a 6.

I love Nairobi N.P. and believe it's under-rated and generally under-valued. It's a shame it isn't given a higher priority by the Kenyan authorities, it could be so much better if there was greater control over the shambas which have been allowed to proliferate at the southern end of the game corridor, by which animals enter and leave the park.