Nairobi Safari Walk

A raised wooden boardwalk carries you above three recreated Kenyan habitats at the Nairobi Safari Walk: wetland, savannah and forest, spread over eleven hectares at the main gate of Nairobi National Park. White rhino, big cats, crocodile, pygmy hippo, antelope, primates and zebra live in the enclosures below, alongside about 150 indigenous tree species. Unlike a game drive, nothing depends on luck or light, which is why it works for young children and for anyone with an afternoon rather than a morning.

Kenya Wildlife Service runs the site as a conservation education centre as well as a visitor attraction, and the elevated walkway is the design idea: sightlines stay open while animals and people stay apart. Entry is charged separately from the national park, at 215 shillings for Kenyan adults and 125 for children, and 22 US dollars for non-resident adults and 13 for children. Reaching it means the Langata Road side of the city, about eight kilometres from the centre, past Nyayo Stadium. The Animal Orphanage sits in the same compound, so the two are a single stop.