Nairobi Trip Report

Spent four days in Nairobi at Wildebeest Camp in May. Beautiful setting – stayed in a lovely Garden Tent for 3500 Kenyan Shillings including breakfast. They have also have tent dorms. Good place to meet other travellers and they had good wi-fi in the main areas which sometimes extended into the tents... It is a long way from downtown (30 minutes if not a lot of traffic – up to 1 ½ hours if traffic) but if you only intend to go downtown once, it’s a decent location because it is close to the Elephant Orphanage and Giraffe Sanctuary and most of the other things you might want to do.

Wildebeest charges 2500 for airport pick-up. Not sure of official airport taxi price but I turned right and exited the terminal through a side door and got an unofficial taxi for 2000. Probably possible to get cheaper. Make sure you get the Wildebeest directions from the website though as a lot of taxis don’t know the new location.

From Wildebeest it costs 1500 to get a taxi downtown (using their service) but it is probably 1000 to 1200 if you can arrange your own driver. Or you can walk to Galleria Mall (40 minutes walk) and take a local shared matutu.

Paid 2500 for a taxi to take us to the Giraffe Sanctuary and Elephant Orphanage (only open 11am-12pm) and back to the Camp. Both recommended.

I was pleasantly surprised by Nairobi - while you definitely need to watch your gear, the downtown wasn’t as intimidating as I had expected. In fact, it was pleasant to walk around. Masai Market (different places but downtown on Saturdays) was a good place to pick up cheap gifts. Bargain hard.

• Jez