Nairobi, National Park in the Middle of a Big City

Seeing Wild Animals in Nairobi National Park Tourist Attraction

 

    Nairobi National Park attractions, many people call it the world's wildlife capital. Not just because Nairobi is the only capital city with a national park, but more so because wildlife roams the city. You can see wild lions lazing around and giraffes feeding, all against a backdrop of nearby skyscrapers.

7 kilometers south of Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, East Africa, is a sprawling acacia scrub and savanna plain. The area is home to a diverse range of wildlife including the critically endangered black rhino, leopard, lion, hyena, giraffe, crocodile, hippopotamus and more than 400 species of birds. 

(lonely planet)

This place is known as Nairobi National Park, an area unique because it is the only protected area in the world that is inside a big city.

Nairobi National Park was established in 1946. The site is fenced with electric wires on three sides, while the southern boundary is open without fences to allow wildlife migration to and from the Kitengela Plain. Herbivores can be found in abundance during the dry season.

When you're on a landing plane approaching Kenya International Airport, you're the lucky one to see, straight from the plane window, four of the "Big Five" African animals, plus leopards, gazelles, hyenas, impalas, zebras and ostriches. All are free in the wild.

Nairobi is known as a green city even under the sometimes stinging sun. Although Nairobi is developing rapidly, it still offers serene forest areas and vast savannas where visitors can get up close to some of Kenya's renowned animal species.

There's a total of 117 square kilometers of wilderness for you to explore, with grassy plains supporting hyenas, deer, giraffes and several groups of noisy baboons, and acacia bushes protecting the endangered lions and black rhino.

There is also the historic ivory burning site, where tons of elephant tusks were burned in 1989 and 2016 as a message against the illegal ivory trade, which is also worth a visit

In mid-2021, a lion panicked the citizens of Ongata Rongai, Kenya. The reason is that the lion entered the settlement during rush hour.

The lion is a lion that lives in the National Park of Nairobi. The two areas do border. In fact, it is very common to find photos of wild animals in the national park against the background of high-rise buildings.

Quoted from AFP, a lion coming out of Nairobi National Park caused panic because it entered the settlement in the morning, the time when residents left for work or school. Indeed, not only residents panicked, but even the lions were not comfortable. The lion was unfamiliar with the place.

Residents then called the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) to handle the situation. KWS sent a zoo keeper and caretaker to bring the lion home. 

"The lion was able to be opened, transferred safely to an animal facility for observation and tagged before being reopened to the park," KWS said in a statement.

Nairobi National Park is surrounded by electric fences in parts but not completely enclosed.

According to conservationists, it is not the lions who enter the settlements, but the residents who expand the settlements and take over the places where the animals live.

Nairobi National Park is a great choice if you have a day or two in Nairobi at the start or end of a wider tour of the country, or on your way to a larger safari destination such as the Maasai Mara or Amboseli National Park.

Visitors often combine a trip to Nairobi National Park with a stop at the Daphne Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage - located at the edge of the park - or the Giraffe Center.