Nairobi Safari Walk

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The next day was our final day in Kenya, and our flight left that evening, however it wasn’t until 11PM so we had the whole day to do things in. We had arranged for a safari vehicle to come at 3:30 for a safari in Nairobi National Park and drop us off to the airport in the evening, however we had the morning to do things in so after a leisurely start in comparison to previous days (alarm set for 8 am) and a leisurely breakfast, we arranged for a taxi to the safari walk so we would have a few hours there. The Safari Walk is located next to the main entrance to Nairobi National Park which is also the headquarters for the Kenyan Wildlife Service, and was only about five minutes away from my hotel.

Upon being dropped off in the car park, I came up to the entrance which was a quite nice looking building set down a path with trees and lush vegetation on either side.
The entrance building was just a roof with open sides, and located over a fairly large pond covered in water lilies with vegetation around the sides, and in the pond were lots of Tilapia and Mosquitofish and at least one Pelusios sp. turtle. There were also lots of wild birds around which was the same all around the zoo, and no surprise really since the zoo directly borders Nairobi National Park. The entrance cost was (adult prices) $25 US for non-residents, 350 Shillings for residents, and 250 shillings for Kenyan citizens (the exchange rate that they accepted was 105 Shillings per dollar) so the price for foreigners was actually rather expensive even by most European zoo standards and extremely cheap for Kenyans – this was similar to the prices for most national parks which is understandable since Nairobi Safari Walk is managed by the Kenyan Wildlife Service.

In the same entrance building, but now inside the zoo, there were signs in English and Swahili about the fish in the pond, as well as many interpretive displays such as this once for animal footprints amongst others. This part of the zoo was the wetlands section, and the first enclosure I came up to was an enclosure for wetland birds, at least that’s what it was signed as, I didn’t see any captive birds in there at all, however it is probable that there were some smaller species hiding out from the midday sun in the dense bushes and I did see a small wild frog sitting on the sign for Great White Pelicans. Opposite the waterbird enclosure, was the Pygmy Hippo enclosure where I did see the inhabitant. Although a fairly inexpensive exhibit without the sort of things you would expect in a great hippo exhibit such as underwater viewing, the enclosure was large with lots of tall trees providing shade as well as sunny spots and a reasonable water areas and the hippo was basking under some very bright sun. The visitor viewing into the enclosure was pretty good too since it was slightly raised onto boards allowing you to see completely over the fence.
We then came to a point where we could chose which way to go since it’s a circular loop around the zoo. Going left would have continued more of the wetlands area, however I went right and into the main Savannah Habitat area.

The paths around the zoo were all extremely nice with lots of grass and tall trees around and loads of wild birds in the trees.

Additionally, throughout the zoo there were many signs showing the commonly sighted wild birds and I saw quite a few of them around the zoo, though rather interestingly both Pygmy Kingfisher and Narina Trogon featured on one of these signs… though I failed to spot either of those two.
Now into the Savannah section, on the right the Pygmy Hippo enclosure continued alongside the path – though without the dedicated viewing points into it, and on the left was an enclosure that was signed for two Kudu species and Cape Buffalo, however I only saw two Cape Buffalo and a single tortoise (Sulcata possibly). The enclosure was not massive, but large enough I think, and as with everywhere else in the zoo, very aesthetically pleasing with a variety of trees and grass and the wild Weavers and Paradise Flycatchers made the enclosure even better of course. Also visible across the enclosure was various hoofstock from the main Savannah enclosure on the other side, however I will discuss these when when I get to that enclosure.
As with everywhere else in the zoo, there was a lot of signage around this enclosure for the species held and for various other Kenyan species. All the signs were bilingual, and of quite a good standard which is nice.

A little further along on the left was a reasonably nice looking enclosure for Spotted Hyeanas, however they seemed to be in their small shelter so I didn’t see them using the enclosure, and opposite that was the ‘Children’s Museum’ which was closed at the time of my visit, however I could look through the windows and It seemed to have lots of taxidermy animals and various other displays.
Continuing on, I then came up to the area that is marked on the map as ‘Primates Park’ with signs there for Vervets, Olive Baboons, Patas Monekys, Sykes Monkeys, and Black and White Colobus. I suspect the Vervets and Baboons referred to wild species around the zoo, of which I saw loads of baboons but not vervets, and the Patas Monkeys were no where to be seen. The Sykes Monkeys were visible, however through a crack in a fence that was blocking off an area that was without public access, so the only exhibit in this section was that for Colobus (Note: there was a fair bit of construction going on in the zoo, and the fence that I could see the Sykes through was blocking off some paths that are marked on the map as publicly accessible so the other species may have been temporarily off display.) The enclosure for the Colobus Monkeys really wasn’t great (and the Sykes Monkeys appeared to be in a similar enclosure) and I think was the worst enclosure in the zoo. It was a small circular enclosure with no natural vegetation, though there were some climbing opportunities inside the enclosure such as ropes and ladders and areas where the monkeys could sit at the top of the enclosure, it seemed to small and – although it’s irrelevant for the monkeys – was not aesthetically pleasing, whilst everywhere else in the zoo excelled in this.

Continuing on, there were some views into the main Savannah Habitat enclosure on the left (which I will discuss when it comes to the main viewing area) with signs for Klipspringer and Hyrax in this part of the Savannah Habitat. I didn’t spot either of those however, which was a particular shame about the Klipspringer (which I’m not sure was there to be honest). On the right was the Rhino enclosure with a large viewing areaand a medium sized enclosure in which I saw a single White Rhino. There were signs for White and Black, however there was only one Rhino in the on show area. The enclosure also had a lot of barbed wire all around it – I guess poaching is a concern.

The next part of the zoo that I reached was the ‘Woodland Trail’ which was entered by going through a building with various displays and signs. Inside, the whole area was one reasonably large walkthrough enclosure which had all of the natural vegetation of the native woodlands with many tall trees. There were quite a few butterflies, and there were also many signs for the native birds that could be spotted of which I saw many of them. There were also a few benches around and it was quite a nice, relaxing place. Soon after entering, I came across the signs for the species in the enclosure which were Bush Duiker, Kirk’s Dik dik, and Giant Forest Hog. The Duiker turned out to be very easy to spot, and there were a fair few of them including one that seemed to be a younger one with its mother. The other two species however proved to be more difficult to spot, and I did see both eventually, though only on a return visit to the enclosure later. The Giant Forest Hog was of course a species that I particularly wanted to see, however I only saw one that was sitting on the ground deep within some vegetation on the edge of the enclosure that I was only able to see at all through the binoculars that I had fortunately brought to look at the wild birds. If I had the whole day, I would have tried to wait for it to come out, but I didn’t, so I had to accept the view that I got. Also in the Woodland Trail, was a view point that looked out over a waterhole in Nairobi National Park itself. I didn’t spot any game there, however there were a fair few wild birds, including a Black Sparrowhawk.

After leaving the Woodland Trail section, the next enclosure that I came across back in the Savannah section was the Lion enclosure. There was a very nice, large viewing building with seats and large windows looking into the enclosure. I’m not sure how large the enclosure was due to the large amount of vegetation around the edges; however I think it went back quite a way into the trees. I only saw one lion – a male – though there could well have been more in the thick vegetation.
Outside the Lion enclosure was a toilet building, and viewing into the main Savannah Habitat Enclosure.

This large enclosure which had some parts divided into seperate sections had a mixture of hoofstock including Impala, Thomson’s Gazelles, Defassa Waterbuck, Eland, a single Giraffe which seems to be a hybrid of Reticulated and Baringo (not sure where the hybrid comes from, though I have a theory that it may have come from the Giraffe Centre to prevent it breeding with pure giraffes there?), and Common Zebra including one individual – signed as albino – that is probably leucistic. Also with the hooftstock were two Ostriches that seemed to be Somali Ostrich, and lots of Wild Baboons that had entered the enclosure from Nairobi National Park, as well as plenty of wild birds too of course. The path then turned into a raised boardwalk, giving a view down into the enclosure, and on the other side was a very nice looking Leopard Enclosure.



The leopard enclosure was open-topped with the boardwalk forming the walls, so as you would guess they were quite high off the ground. There were also viewing buildings into the leopard enclosure which did give a fairly good view. I saw one leopard in the enclosure that was pacing back and forth long the back fence, however the enclosure was quite large and there were lots of tall trees and natural vegetation in the enclosure, as well as raised platforms for the leopard. One of these platforms had a wild Yellow-billed Kite on it that was probably trying to steal some meat.

Also along the boardwalk around here were many wild Ochre Bush Squirrels as well as wild Baboons and of course many wild birds. The boardwalk then extended outwards into the national park with a large viewing area providing a view over the national park. This was, however, a dead end because the further boardwalks that were being constructed to make a loop back into the zoo itself were still under construction.

This meant that I couldn’t go any further along to complete the circuit of the zoo, so I went back around to the area where I turned off from around the hippos, to go the opposite way around and come back to where the boardwalk ended. This was only a stretch of a few metres of boardwalk forming the loop that was impassable, so I will continue from where I would be if I had gone straight across the boardwalk.

The next enclosure along on the left was the Cheetah enclosure.
This backed onto the main Savannah paddock, as can be seen in the picture linked above with the giraffe being visible through the Cheetah enclosure.
The enclosure wasn’t huge, nor was it tiny, and it did have a fair bit of natural vegetation, including an area of dense bushes in which they could hide. When I first got to the enclosure it seemed like that is what they were doing because they were not visible, however when the Cape Buffalo in an enclosure on the opposite side of the central Savannah Habitat started running for some reason, it seemed to startle the Cheetahs so they – two of them – came out into the middle of the enclosure. The other thing worthy of note from this enclosure is that there was a group of Cinnamon-chested Bee-eaters nesting in the mud bank in the enclosure which was pretty cool. As with the lion and leopard enclosures, the cheetah enclosure also had a fairly nice viewing building.

Directly opposite the cheetah enclosure was the Bongo enclosure. I felt that this would have been better in the Forest Habitat section to fit the theming of the zoo better; however there probably isn’t space there since the map also shows a substantial off-show bongo holding area. The enclosure itself was very lush with lots of tall trees and vegetation, and it appeared to extend back a fair way. I only saw a single bongo near to the front of the enclosure; however it is likely that there were more further back.

Continuing along further, I went down a path that had quite a bit of interesting signage including this one that I thought was quite effective, and the area also represented the ‘desert habitat’ however didn’t have any actual live animal exhibits for this and was just a few signs. There were also plenty of trees, many of which had signs about them. Also in the middle of the path was another frog – the same species that I saw on the sign for the pelicans earlier – which I’m not completely sure of the ID yet, though it could be a Marbled Reed Frog. I then came back near to the entrance/exit and back in the Wetlands Habitat and I came up to the final enclosure which was for two Nile Crocodiles. The pool was a bit small, however the land area was fairly large and the whole enclosure quite natural looking, and there was also a viewing deck here, with a wild Ochre Bush Squirrel too.

By this point I had seen the whole zoo properly, and I popped back to a couple of places to revisit some bits because I still had 20 minutes until the taxi was due to return to pick us up. I also spent some time looking at the wild birds, including a spectacular African Paradise Flycatcher. Overall then, I quite liked the zoo. Not huge, but generally to a high standard for the visitors and animals, and the location right next to Nairobi National Park really makes the place great with wild birds and the natural vegetation in a way that it would be impossible for any zoo outside of Africa to replicate with an African exhibit. The zoo was fairly empty when I visited with only a few other groups of people, however I am told that on Sundays it is quite busy (I visited on a Saturday).

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