Nairobi With Kids
What Nairobi with kids really looks like, from a family that plans these trips for a living.
Nicole Damiano, ASTA Verified Travel Advisor with FG Luxury Travel
Is Nairobi worth it with kids?
Yes, and it surprises everyone. Where else can kids feed a giraffe, meet baby elephants and see lions in a real park all in one city? It is the perfect, gentle on ramp to a safari, and a highlight in its own right.
How many days?
Two days for the city, then three or four nights out on safari in the Mara or Amboseli.
What is the one thing we cannot miss?
Feeding the giraffes at the Giraffe Centre and the baby elephants at the David Sheldrick orphanage. Book the elephant hour online in advance.
Do we need a car?
A private driver, yes. There is no tourist friendly transit, traffic is heavy, and the sights are spread out. A driver or Uber and a bit of buffer time is the way to do Nairobi.
When should we go?
The dry months, June to October and January to February, are best and line up with prime safari season. Avoid the long rains in April and May. Pack a fleece, the highland evenings are cool.
The Only City With a Safari Inside It
Nairobi is the gateway to an African safari, and most families rush straight through it. Give it a day or two instead, because it is the one city on earth with a full national park inside its limits. Kids can watch lions and giraffes with skyscrapers on the horizon, feed a giraffe by hand, and meet orphaned baby elephants, all before they ever reach a safari camp.
It is a big, busy, spread out city with heavy traffic, so the smart move is to base near the good stuff. Karen, the leafy green suburb named for Karen Blixen, puts you close to the giraffes and the elephants. Westlands is more central for hotels and malls. Wherever you sleep, you get around with a driver, and you build in time for traffic.
Getting Around
You get around with a private driver or Uber, not on foot or on public transport. From Jomo Kenyatta Airport, have your hotel send a driver, it is the easy way in with kids and bags. Traffic is famously heavy, so plan two or three stops a day at most and keep them close together.
Neighborhoods worth basing in
Karen
The leafy, green garden suburb on the western edge, named for the author of Out of Africa. This is where the giraffes, the elephant orphanage and the old colonial history sit, with big gardens, good guesthouses and a slower pace. My usual base for families.
Westlands
The busier, more central district, full of hotels, shopping malls and restaurants. Handy and well connected, with everything you might need close by, though it lacks Karen’s greenery and calm.
Gigiri
The quiet diplomatic quarter up north near the UN, safe and green with some good hotels and the lovely Karura Forest nearby. A calm, comfortable base a little removed from the bustle.
Giraffe Manor
The famous manor house where resident Rothschild giraffes poke their heads through the windows at breakfast. Unforgettable and wildly popular, so book many months ahead. The ultimate blow the budget treat with kids.
Hemingways Nairobi
A gracious, colonial style hotel in the Karen hills with mountain views, gardens and a pool, and superb service. A calmer, more available luxury option close to the giraffes and elephants.
A Karen guesthouse
Karen and the western suburbs are full of family run guesthouses and cottages set in big gardens, at a fraction of the manor house prices. Space to run, a pool, a proper breakfast, and close to the animals. Often the best value with kids.
The Three I Build Every Nairobi Trip Around
The Giraffe Centre
On the edge of Karen, the Giraffe Centre lets kids stand on a raised platform and feed endangered Rothschild giraffes eye to eye, or even from the lips if they are brave. It is hands on, well run and conservation focused, and it is the single biggest hit with children in the whole city. Go early before the tour buses.
The David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage
Open for just one lovely hour each day, the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust cares for orphaned baby elephants and rhinos and later returns them to the wild. You watch the keepers feed them giant bottles of milk and play in the mud, and hear each little one’s story. Book online ahead, the hour fills up, and it is worth every bit of the effort.
Nairobi National Park
The headline act, and it sounds made up until you see it. A full wildlife park sits right against the city, where you can take a dawn game drive past lions, giraffes, zebra and rhino with the Nairobi skyline rising behind them. It is the easiest safari on the planet to reach, and a perfect warm up for the real thing.
Family Time, Built In: Nairobi With Kids
Nairobi is a dream for animal loving kids. In a single day you can feed a giraffe, watch baby elephants at bottle time, and drive past lions in a real park. Add the excellent Nairobi National Museum and the Karura Forest for waterfalls and bike paths, and there is more than enough to fill happy days.
The harbor ferry to the beach
Sunday fish market
Paddle boats on the the highlands
Planten un Blomen
the skyline plaza
PARK & DOWNTIME PICK
Karura Forest, a huge protected forest right in the city with waterfalls, caves, bike trails and picnic lawns, a green lung where kids can run and ride safely. A perfect calm morning between the animal stops.
Five Things To Eat In Nairobi
Nyama choma
Ugali
Sukuma wiki
Samosa
MandaziNicole’s Perspective
A city where the wild starts at the edge of town
I have spent years planning African safaris for families, and Nairobi is where I always tell them to start. A day meeting giraffes and baby elephants and driving through a real park eases young kids into the wildlife gently, so that by the time they reach the Mara they are ready and thrilled rather than overwhelmed.
I steer families to give Nairobi a day or two before flying out to the Maasai Mara or Amboseli. It turns the gateway city from a chore into one of the best parts of the trip, and the animal encounters here are ones your kids will never forget.
The Day Trip: The Maasai Mara
The main event lies a short flight or a long drive from the city. The Maasai Mara is Kenya’s greatest reserve, home to the big cats and, from about July to October, the wildebeest migration. Amboseli offers huge elephant herds under Mount Kilimanjaro. Fly in for a few nights at a family friendly camp and let the kids live the safari they came for.
Things I Would Tell A Friend Before They Booked
How Many Days
Two days is plenty for Nairobi itself. One for the giraffes and the elephant orphanage, one for a game drive in Nairobi National Park and the museum. Then fly out to a safari for three or four nights to complete the trip.
Day one for the Giraffe Centre and the David Sheldrick elephant orphanage, both in Karen, with the Karen Blixen house or Karura Forest to fill the afternoon. Day two for a dawn game drive in Nairobi National Park and the Nairobi National Museum.
Add three or four nights on safari in the Maasai Mara or Amboseli, then a Kenyan coast add on at Diani Beach if you want to end on the sand.
Nairobi is the hub of any Kenya trip. Give it a day or two on the way in, fly out to the Mara or Amboseli, and you have the classic family safari, eased in gently.
Nairobi With Kids, Answered
Is Nairobi worth it with kids?
Yes, and it surprises everyone. Where else can kids feed a giraffe, meet baby elephants and see lions in a real park all in one city? It is the perfect, gentle on ramp to a safari, and a highlight in its own right.
How many days?
Two days for the city, then three or four nights out on safari in the Mara or Amboseli.
What is the one thing we cannot miss?
Feeding the giraffes at the Giraffe Centre and the baby elephants at the David Sheldrick orphanage. Book the elephant hour online in advance.
Do we need a car?
A private driver, yes. There is no tourist friendly transit, traffic is heavy, and the sights are spread out. A driver or Uber and a bit of buffer time is the way to do Nairobi.
When should we go?
The dry months, June to October and January to February, are best and line up with prime safari season. Avoid the long rains in April and May. Pack a fleece, the highland evenings are cool.
Ready To Put Nairobi On The Calendar
Send me your dates and your kids’ ages and I will build the Nairobi days, sort a base near the animals, book the elephant hour, and line up the safari camp in the Mara or Amboseli.
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