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Nairobi National Park is one of the brilliant birdwatching destinations in Kenya thanks to its close proximity to a capital city and the notably high number of bird species recorded complemented by its comparatively small size. Nairobi National Park is a vital stop-off for birds migrating to (and within) Africa, so you’re assured to see a huge array of bird species which makes the park a leading choice for a day birding tour in Kenya. Nairobi National Park ranks as one of the most accomplished birding destinations in Africa as well as the whole world. Each year Nairobi National Park plays host to an arrival, and then a departure of more than one hundred bird species that flock here during the summer months to take advantage of the rich conditions in terms of weather and food availability
The Nairobi National Park birdwatching tour is one of those birding safaris that have a thing for everyone, it is undisputedly a birder’s bliss. Nairobi National Park birding tour can get you close-up and personal with the incredible African Crowned Eagle and displaying male Kori Bustard, Secretary Bird, Martial Eagle, Siffling Cisticola, African Fish Eagle, Black Rhinos, Lions, Leopards, and Cheetahs among many (many) others. Ornithologists, birdwatchers, wildlife enthusiasts, bird photographers, or nature lovers with a few hours to spare, or someone with a connecting flight to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport can easily visit the park for a day birdwatching tour and click new bird species in a rapid sequence. Nairobi National Park has more than 520 bird species recorded, making it an astounding destination for day birding tours in Kenya. Nairobi National Park is a birdwatching jewel and one of the best and most visited national parks for day birdwatching tours in East Africa. This small gem in the capital city of Kenya is extremely rich in wildlife, with a mouth-watering range of birds. Most of Kenya’s multi-day birding tours and wildlife safaris start or end in Nairobi National Park which makes your birding tour complete and indelible. Nairobi National Park is one of the top birding destinations in Kenya. The park’s attraction as a birdwatching destination par excellence has to be one of the world`s best-kept secrets. Depending on your time we offer a half or whole-day birding tour in the Nairobi National Park, albeit we strongly recommend a full-day birding in the park. On an engaging birding day tour in Nairobi National Park, more than 100 bird species may be seen/recorded.
Nairobi National Park has an altitude of about 1500 – 1700 meters above sea level. The Park has a size of 117 kilometers square or 45.17 square miles, Nairobi National Park was established in 1946, making it Kenya’s oldest designated National Park. Nairobi National Park despite its modest size is one of East Africa’s, Africa’s, and the world’s most diverse and interesting protected parks. Nairobi National Park is a classic modern marvel. The only natural wildlife park/birdwatching destination within a capital city’s limits in the world. Nairobi National Park is an ingenious paradox, it provides an enormous option for clients with a short time and looking for exploits not far from the city of Nairobi
Nairobi National Park has so many different habitats, represented, ranging from savannah grasslands, open woodland, scrub, bushed thickets, and dry wetland forests, others include rocky gorges, wetlands, rivers, and streams. The Park has prominently diverse indigenous flora comprising plants of more than 100 species.
Nairobi National Park is one of the most pristine environments left on the planet and the combination of grassland plains, swamps, savannah woodlands; dry upland forests, rivers, and streams make it the world’s exceptional birdwatching destination. The Park is an ornithologically galore destination in its own right. Nairobi National park’s most important environment is an open grass plain with scattered Acacia bushes. Nowhere else do you get this plenitude of birds, mammals, and other wonderful droves of nature in such a small area adjacent to a big city that is growing rapidly. The iconic Nairobi National Park has more than 500 bird species recorded and is perhaps the longest bird checklist in all cities of the world. Nairobi National Park which is the treasure in the crown of national parks in Kenya has withstood many socio-economic and ecological pressures to preserve its biodiversity integrity and set the pace for Kenya’s renowned National Park. This is mostly attributed to the park having many different habitats, with each containing different species of birds, and an ecosystem composed of grasslands, forests, and riverine habitats.
There are several designated picnic sites within the park; where you are entitled to get out of your vehicle, in the Nairobi National Park Birdwatching tour
Birdwatching and bird photography in these areas tend to be fruitful and gratifying because you alight from the vehicle and get a chance of walking and interact closer with nature
A privately guided birding tour is the best way to find most, if not all, of the area’s sought-after species. Let us arrange customized day private guided tours: our guides have accompanied countless birdwatchers for more than twenty years.
Nairobi National park has a large and diverse wildlife population, four of the big five mammals ( Lion, Buffalo, Rhino, Leopard) may also be encountered in the park, Other animals to be encountered on a day birding tour include:
Nairobi National Park has gained distinction as a protected refuge and breeding ground of global magnitude for the endangered black and white rhinoceros. The success in both safeguarding and breeding black rhinos has earned the Nairobi national park the moniker Kifaru (Rhino) Ark, and it remains home to more than 60 black rhinos living in densities not seen anywhere else in Africa. Nairobi National Park is the best place to visit for that bizarre image of a rhino snuffling across the savannah with Nairobi’s high-rise buildings in the background. The ivory burning site is close to the main gate, where more than 150 tonnes of ivory from both elephants and rhinos have been burnt, the first 12 tonnes were burned in 1989 by then-president Daniel Arap Moi, “there was a desperate measure meant to send a message to the world about the poaching of Kenya’s Elephant”
The second burning happened in 2016,105 tons of elephant tusks and 1.35 tons of rhino horns were reduced to smoldering ash, where visitors are allowed to alight from their cars and take photos of the ash pile.
Nairobi National Park lies in a transition zone between two of Africa’s great ecosystems- the savannahs stretching from northern Tanzania to Laikipia, near Mount Kenya, and the forest Kenya highlands. The combination of available water and a moderate climate (neither too hot and dry nor too cold and wet) has made this transition zone an important area for wildlife. The park acts as a dry-season home, the concentration of wildlife in the park is greatest in the dry season when areas outside the park have dried up. Small dams built along the Mbagathi River give the park more water resources than these outside areas In the wet season animals move out of Nairobi national park to take advantage of seasonally lush pastures on the plains to the south and east of the park.
They disperse over the Athi Kapiti plains in the wet season and return to the park in the dry season. Nairobi national park sprawls two distinct zones, the smaller to the west and northwest, where the terrain is more elevated, and ranging in altitude from 1700-1780 meters (5600-5847 feet) the zone receives significantly higher rainfall. The second zone which is much larger is characterized by short grass plains with sparse trees and shrubs that extend east and south via rocky gullies and scraps in central areas of the park down into the Athi Basin. Tall trees among them the Yellow-barked Acacias and the Fig Trees are only found on river banks and valleys. Nairobi national park gives the Kenyan capital a tourist attraction like no other, it is an important money gyrator for the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), raking in more than Kenya shillings 400 million every year. Nairobi National Park also provides city dwellers with a placid, scenic retreat from the stresses of daily urban life. Nairobi National Park receives close to 500,000 visitors in a year, numbers comprising foreign, resident, and local tourists. The Park is fascinating and very popular for day tours and weekend getaways for both residents and domestic clients who want to see the big five-game drive. It functions as the “lungs” of today’s choked overcrowded city, replenishing oxygen and soaking up pollutants
Notable Reptiles that can be seen in Nairobi National Park; Nile Monitor Lizard, Nile Crocodile, Striped Skink, Tropical House Gecko, Variable Skink, Long-tailed Skink, Kilimanjaro Five-toed Skink, Jackson’s Forest Lizard, Kenya Red-headed Rock Agama, Blue-headed Tree Agama, Black-lined Plated Lizard, Jackson’s Chameleon, African Southern Rock Python, Puff Adder, Battersby’s Green Snake, Olive Sand Snake, White-lipped Snake, Garter Snake, Marsh Terrapin, Serrated Hinged Terrapin, Leopard Tortoise.
