01
Visit the elephant orphanage
Orphaned elephant calves are hand-raised at the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust nursery on the park's northern edge.
The nursery opens to visitors for one hour each day, when the calves come in for their milk feed and mud bath while keepers explain each orphan's story. It sits just inside the Mbagathi Gate area of the park, so it pairs naturally with a morning game drive.
- Open daily 11:00–12:00; booking online in advance is essential
- Separate entry donation, payable to the Trust and not covered by KWS park fees
- Best combined with a 6am game drive that finishes at the nursery
02
Nairobi Safari Walk
A raised boardwalk through wetland, savannah and forest habitats beside the Main Gate.
The Safari Walk is a walking sanctuary with albino zebra, pygmy hippo, leopard, cheetah and around 150 species of local tree, all viewed from an elevated timber walkway. It is the one place around the park where you can explore on foot with young children in tow.
- At the KWS headquarters beside the Main Gate on Langata Road
- Open daily, roughly 08:30–17:30; allow 1.5–2 hours
- Charged separately from park entry
03
Hippo Pools
The only place inside the park where you may leave your vehicle and walk, with a KWS ranger.
A shaded riverine trail follows the Mbagathi River past pools where hippo and crocodile rest through the day. Vervet monkeys, kingfishers and forest birds work the canopy above, and the change of pace after hours in a vehicle is the point.
- In the south-east of the park; allow 45 minutes for the walking trail
- A ranger escort is compulsory and is arranged at the site
- Stay behind the marked barriers — hippo are the reason for them
04
Picnic in the park
Designated picnic sites let you sit out a whole day in the park rather than rushing a circuit.
Kingfisher, Impala and Mokoyeti picnic sites have tables, shade and toilets, and most have a view over the plains or the river. Bring a cool box and eat between the morning and late-afternoon game viewing peaks, when animals are resting anyway.
- No open fires or barbecues without prior KWS permission
- Take all litter out with you; baboons will help themselves to anything unattended
- Kingfisher picnic site is the most popular and has the best skyline outlook
05
Impala Observation Lookout
The classic viewpoint for the skyline-behind-wildlife photograph the park is known for.
The lookout sits on high ground above open grassland with Nairobi's towers on the horizon. Impala, zebra, giraffe and warthog graze below, and it is a good spot to scan for rhino at first light or to watch the plains turn gold in the last hour of the day.
- Best light is the first hour after sunrise and the last hour before the gates close
- You may stand at the marked viewpoint; elsewhere in the park stay in your vehicle
- Bring a 200mm or longer lens for the compressed skyline shots
06
Athi Dam
The park's best waterhole for a long, patient sit — hippo, waterbirds and predators on the drink.
Athi Dam in the eastern Athi Basin holds water year-round, so it draws buffalo, eland, hippo and huge numbers of waterbirds. In the dry season it becomes one of the most reliable places in the park to see lion and rhino coming down to drink.
- About 40 minutes' drive from the Main Gate on the eastern circuit
- Late morning and late afternoon are the busiest hours at the water
- Combine with the Athi Basin dams and the Hippo Pools loop
07
Stay overnight at a lodge
Sleeping on the park boundary means being at the gate before it opens rather than driving out from the city.
Ololo Safari Lodge and Farm and The Emakoko both sit on the park's edge, so a dawn start costs you minutes rather than an hour in Nairobi traffic. Both arrange guided game drives, and both let you finish the day with the sound of the park rather than the road home.
- Ololo Safari Lodge and Farm — a working farm on the Mbagathi River
- The Emakoko — a luxury boutique lodge in the valley below the park
- Book early for weekends and Kenyan school holidays
