On my way back from Madagascar, I stopped over in Addis Ababa and Nairobi for a few days. My perception was definitely skewed, after living in what is now classified as the least developed country in the world, but Nairobi felt like paradise. I honestly couldn’t have told you how it was any different than London or LA, except Nairobi has GIRAFFES!

I was there for two days and have a basic itinerary everyone should follow. I’ve also got some tips – basically don’t be me and book the cheapest accommodation you can find. My room was full of mosquitos and though malaria isn’t really a worry in Nairobi, after spending months being extremely sceptical of any mosquito it was really unpleasant to hear them buzzing in my ear all night. I’d either book a legit hotel, as I did in Addis, or stay in Karen, which isn’t that close to the city centre but is really close to a lot of the tourist places.

I booked a tour and I have to say it was really unnecessary. Uber is huge in Nairobi and I could have easily just Ubered myself to each of the places on the tour – most come with their own guides so our official tour guide didn’t even come inside most of the places. He was basically a glorified driver, though he was the one who brought us on our safari of Nairobi National Park – and it was clear he wasn’t a professional. Top tip: hire a real safari guide for NNP and uber the rest of the way – unless you’re flying solo like I was and wanted some forced company. I had two cool women on my trip and one took loads of photos for me, so that was pretty bomb.

Itinerary

Start with an early safari through Nairobi National Park. If you’ve done a proper safari through other parts of Africa you’ll probably find this a bit disappointing (there aren’t any elephants!) – but it’s worth it to see the clash of wild animals with the cityscape in the background.

From here, you’ll be craving elephants – so it only makes sense to head to the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust Elephant Orphanage. This is one of the most successful elephant rescue/rehabilitation programmes in the world, and they do incredible work to help and not exploit the elephants. They are open to the public for one hour every day – 11 am to noon. You’ll see them feed the elephants and watch the elephants play and bathe and bond – it’s a really lovely experience. You may want to get there early to join the front of the queue. You’ll want to be as close to the front as possible so you can hear the Keepers introduce and give the background on each elephant. At the end you can adopt an elephant to help ensure the orphanage can stay open. With this you get some artwork of your elephant and updates on how they are doing. Entry costs about $7 USD and is cash only.

Have you seen those ads on Instagram and social media for the Giraffe Manor? They are a bit out of this world and to stay there would be such a dream. However it’s also well out of my price range, so if you’re like me and can’t afford to spend a few hundred/thousand pounds on a room, do the next best thing – visit the Giraffe Centre! The Centre is on the same grounds as the manor and it’s the same giraffes. You can still get quite close and personal with them (see me make out with one below), and this for the low cost of about $15USD. During our safari through Kruger I started suspecting something – I might just prefer giraffes to elephants! They are so beautiful and majestically tall but also a bit ridiculous. Observe in all their glory at the Centre – and maybe have a coffee. Not quite as good as Ethiopian, but still so delicious.

Next go see the Karen Blixen Museum. I haven’t read Out of Africa, so didn’t think I’d care much about this place. However as someone who was in the midst of living as an expat in another African country, I really enjoyed seeing what her life looked like back then (spoiler: much more luxurious than life in Fort Dauphin!). Her home was beautiful, the landscape perfectly designed, and it was just a really lovely place to spend a bit of time exploring.

You can fit all of that into a day, but it’ll be a very busy and full day. If you have a bit more time I was eyeing tours like a trip to the Maasai Mara, Lake Nakuru, or Hell’s Gate National Park. As I didn’t have time, instead I spent the remainder of my time eating, and I loved the vibe at J’s Fresh Bar and Kitchen. I also snuck in one last Ethiopian meal at Abyssinia.

This trip I stayed in Westlands, which was great as it was right in the centre of the city – however it’s quite far from everything mentioned above, and if I went back and was following the same itinerary, I’d stay in Karen. This is a wealthy international area a bit outside of the Centre – but really close to all the activities listed above.

Nairobi was a place I’d dreamed about visiting since as far back as I can remember. While two days weren’t nearly enough, I’m so happy I got to get a tiny taste of what the city has to offer.