Nairobi National Park
Back Ground
Information
The 117 km2 Nairobi National Park is unique by being the
only protected area in the world with a variety of animals
and birds close to a capital city. As expected, the park
is a principal attraction for visitors to Nairobi.
The park also serves many residents and citizens living
in the city The park has a diversity of environments with
characteristic fauna and flora. Open grass plains with scattered
acacia bush are predominant. The western side has a highland
dry forest and a permanent river with a riverine forest
in the south. In addition, there are stretches of broken
bush country and deep, rocky valleys and gorges with scrub
and long grass. Man-made dams have also added a further
habitat, favourable to certain species of birds and other
aquatic biota(life forms). The dams also attract water dependent
herbivores during the dry season.
The park has a rich/diverse birdlife with
400 species recorded. However all species are not always
present and some are seasonal. Northern migrants pass through
the park primarily during late March through April.
Nairobi National Park is one of the most successful
of Kenya's rhino sanctuaries that is already generating
a stock for reintroduction in the species former range and
other upcoming sanctuaries. Due to this success, it is one
of the few parks where a visitor can be certain of seeing
a black rhino in its natural habitat.
To the south of the park is the Athi-Kapiti
Plains and Kitengela Migration and dispersal area. These
are vital areas for herbivores dispersal during the rains
and concentrate in the park in the dry season.
Major Attractions
Annual wildebeest and zebra migration in July/August, Black
rhinoceros , Diverse birdlife , Large predators- lion, leopard,
hyena and cheetah.
Aggregations of large herbivores- eland, buffalo, zebra
and wildebeest, Ivory Burning Site Monument , Walking trails
at hippo pools, Nairobi Safari Walk & the Orphanage,
Spacious accomodating picnic sites.
How To Get There
Roads:
Located only about 7 km from the city centre, the park is
easily accessible on tarmac roads, mainly through Langata
Road.
Park Roads:
There is an adequate administration and viewing road network
with satisfactory signage.
Park gates:
The park has seven gates, the main gate at KWS headquarters,
East Gate, Cheetah Gate, Lang'ata Gate, Maasai Gate: Mbagathi
and Banda Gate are service gates and therefore not used
by tourists.
Facilities
There are no accommodation facilities in the park. But a
wide range of well developed accommodation facilities are
available in the city. Further, there is also the Masai
Safari Lodge near the park.
Picnic Sites: Impala Observation Tower; Ivory Burning Site;
King Fisher Gorge; Leopard Cliffs; Mokoiyet; Hippo Pool;
Other attractions: Lone Tree, Directors tree planting site
Nature Trails: The park has one nature trail at the Hippo
Pool
Common Vegetation
The vegetation is primarily dry savanna, open
grass plains with scattered acacia bushes. The park also
has a permanent river with a riverine forest.
The western upland areas has an upland dry
forest with stands of Olea africana and Croton dichogamus/Brachylaena
hutchinsii and calodendrum. The lower slopes are a grassland
composed of such species as: Themeda, Cyprus, Digitaria,
and Cynodon with scattered yellow-barked acacia, Acacia
xanthophloea. In addition there are stretches of broken
bush country and deep rocky valleys and gorges with scrub
and long grass.
There is gallery forest in the valleys, predominantly
Acacia spp., and Euphobia candelabrum. Other tree species
include Apodytes dimidiata, Canthium schimperanum, Elaeodendron
buchananii, Newtonia sp., Ficus eriocarpa, Aspilia mossambicensis,
and Rhus natalensis.
Several plants growing on the rocky hillsides
are unique to the Nairobi area including Euphobia brevitorta,
Drimia calcarata, Murdannia clarkeana and the crassula sp. |
