Travel to Nairobi

a simple transit stop for most safari travellers

Nairobi is the capital of Kenya, a sprawling and chaotic city of over 6.5 million people, which serves as the main transport hub for the region.

It’s a pretty hectic place these days, with remnants of a more genteel past being now well concealed behind the realities of modern African capital.

The majority of our guests are keen to get through Nairobi as quickly as possible, connecting directly from their international flights out to the safari areas.

These connections can sometimes take place at the international airport, but more commonly involve a potentially traffic-impeded transfer to Wilson Aerodrome.

Inconvenient flight timings often make it necessary to overnight in the Nairobi area.

There are three main options for a stay in Nairobi …

1 : A quick overnight

If you are looking for a simple logistical overnight, then it’s usually best to stay south of the city, between the international and domestic airports.

2 : An interesting stopover

If you specifically want to spend more time in the area, perhaps to visit Nairobi National Park, Langata Giraffe Sanctuary and the Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage, then options in or near the quiet garden suburbs of Langatta and Karen to the southwest can be really rather attractive.

By far the best known and arguably the most upmarket option in Langatta, Giraffe Manor is a wonderful and authentic period property where you can feed giraffes by hand without even going outside. Expensive maybe, but an undeniably superb novelty stop.

South of Nairobi National Park there are two rather nice properties which have a much more relaxed and relatively rural feel, namely The Emakoko and Ololo Lodge.

3 : A longer business break

If you need to access the city centre, perhaps for business, then there’s a good range of international standard hotels, as well as a few with a little more character.

Although The Norfolk Hotel is the one with the most impressive historic connections, we tend to prefer the Fairview Hotel, which retains a reasonable level of authenticity at a reasonable price.

some interesting activities if you stay a little longer