 Kenya's capital is
cosmopolitan, lively, interesting and pleasantly landscaped. Its
central business district is handily compact and it's a great place
to tune into modern urban African life. Originally little more than
a swampy watering hole for Maasai tribes, Nairobi grew with the
advent of the railway and had become a substantial town by 1900.
Five years later it succeeded Mombasa as the capital of the British
protectorate. Today it's the largest city between Cairo and Johannesburg.
Nairobi has some very classy museums. It's worth visiting the National
Museum as both an introduction to Kenya and an escape from Nairobi.
The museum's cool, peaceful interiors will give relief from the
hot dusty streets outside. As you walk quietly around, you'll see
displays of fossils, tribal artifacts, and a bird gallery with more
than 900 stuffed and mounted specimens.
Nairobi as capital city is unique in having a wildlife park on its
doorstep. It is actually possible to photograph a rhino browsing
peacefully among the whistling thorn with high-rise office buildings
in the background. Since some of the wildlife is migratory, when
there is grazing and water outside the park, it moves out into Maasailand
through he unfenced southern border. Despite this, there is a resident
population and therefore a visit at any time during the year is
rewarding.
Of the most popular species, only the elephant is an absentee. But
the rest of the big five - the leopard, the lion, the buffalo and
the rhino - as well as a multitude of other creatures are well represented
in this National Park. Large populations of giraffe, wildebeest,
eland and Thompson's gazelle dominate the plains with secretary
birds and powerful ostrich as attractive counter-points. The park
has been designated a Rhino Sanctuary and more than 50 rhinos have
been brought here from various remote parts of the country where
poaching was rampant. So if you want to see rhino, Nairobi National
Park is the place to be.
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