"A Brief Visit" a Nairobi Travel Page by glabah

My primary reason for being in Nairobi was to come into and go out of the country, on the way to Oyugis. Someone I knew years ago through the church I attended lives in Nairobi and he showed our group around town a little bit, and helped us with shopping.

I'm not too fond with large cities, and Nairobi is a political and commercial center more than it is a tourist attraction. There are a few tourist items around, but really the attraction of Kenya is when you get outside the larger cities and find things in the countryside that are quite different from home.

This photo of a hyrax in a tree was taken by Cindy L., who was a member of our group. It was taken in the parking lot of the Karen Blixen museum.

Even if you are only in the city a brief time, and even if you despise tourist traps, I do recommend going to see the Great Rift Valley. It is only a very short distance from the city.

You probably came to Africa to see wildlife, and if that is the case you can go directly to my Masai Mara Reserve information. It is several hours away from Nairobi, but this is the big international airport, and so you will probably have to go through Nairobi to get to whatever place is your ultimate destination anyway.

The City Market and Kazuri had some interesting things to buy, and it was nice to at least visit the Karen Blixen museum, though it isn't a particularly impressive place (read some of the other tips about that one before you decide if it is worth your time to go).

Nairobi is very close to the Great Rift Valley (though in theory we are no longer supposed to use that name for this spectacular geological feature) and if you are in Nairobi for any other reason I would definitely suggest a visit to the edge of this famous place - it can be a bit of a tourist trap but it can also be a good place to have been at least once.

Unfortunately, I have very little feel for how things are laid out in the city, and can't give you very good information on the various addresses of many of the features and attractions.

African weddings are fairly elaborate events, and the Nairobi area weddings can involve a mixture of all sorts of traditions. It may mean everything from European and American style dress to traditional Kenyan dress to various mixtures of these forms. Most of the time, people in Kenya don't like having their photos taken, but at weddings this is a bit different. Here, photographers show up without invitation and wander around the wedding taking photographs, and sometimes push and shove eachother for a better position. They then sell the results from a vendors booth outside the wedding location.

The couple being married at the wedding where I took this photo was a prime example of the international flavor of events: the groom is from Australia and the bride is from Sudan. They could not get married in Sudan due to the various troubles there, and there wasn't enough money to transport all their friends to Australia. Thus, the wedding took place in Nairobi.

Our group stayed at the FPFK guest house, which is affiliated with one of the Kenyan churches. Not only is it a good price for groups like ours, but it is also a good location due to our ultimate destination being towards the west. We didn't have to cross the city when the time came for us to go to Oyugis.