Perpetual beauty of Nairobi National Park

By Monicah Muema
Nairobi is Africa’s third largest city and the regional hub for East Africa.

It is also the only city in the world to boast a 12,000-hectare park, teaming with wildlife, right on its doorstep. Rolling plains, riverine woodland and thick bush lined valleys are just some of Nairobi National Park’s varied habitats.

The park is a classic savannah land containing stunning African upland landscapes; a true gem, next to the vibrant global city. As Kenya’s oldest National Park it is unique, full of history and wildlife and a must see destination for anyone living in or visiting Kenya.
History
Nairobi was founded as an encampment associated with the building of the Uganda Railway in 1899 on the plains just below the beginning of the forests of Kikuyuland, where there was permanent water (Engare Nairobi ‘The Place of Cool Water ‘in the Maa language).
These plains were of course the Athi Plains and they absolutely teemed with large mammals. It is estimated that the Athi Kapiti Ecosystem (where Nairobi was built in the North West corner of this savannah ecosystem) was home to 100,000 wildebeest in those days.
The Chief Game Warden at the time, Mervyn Cowie, realized that the Nairobi Commanage, threatened and encroached upon even then, must be used or Lost.

He anonymously wrote to the newspapers of the time, knowing that the people of Nairobi loved their Commanage. He caused a storm of controversy by suggesting that the Commanage should be built on and the wildlife eliminated forever in the interests of the city.
The public reaction to this suggestion was so intense that a public subscription was started to save the Commanage‚ and Mervyn Cowie was free to turn it into the Colony’s first formally gazetted National Park in 1946. He was the man that we must today thank for having the vision to do something about the amazing ecological jewel that is Nairobi National Park.
Wildlife and picnic sites
The park is a seasonal park and is dependent to the annual migrations. It is unfenced on the southern boundary which means it provides a welcome dry-season refuge for migratory species.
In fact 4000 zebra, 1000 wildebeest, 14 species of antelope (including eland and kongoni) all call the Nairobi National Park their home at some point throughout the year.

In turn they attract animals further up the food chain. An estimated population of nearly 40 lions rub shoulders with good numbers of leopard and spotted hyena, as well as the occasional cheetah and the elusive aardwolf.
Lions and hyenas are also commonly sighted within the park; park rangers at the entrance usually have updates on lion movements. You will need a bit of patience and a lot of luck to spot the park’s resident cheetahs and leopards. Other regularly spotted species include gazelle, warthog, zebra, giraffe, ostrich and buffalo.
Nairobi National Park has acquired the nickname ‘Kifaru Ark’, a testament to its success as a rhinoceros sanctuary. The park is home to the world’s densest concentration of black rhinoceros (over 50). But even proximity to Kenya’s largest city could not prevent poachers from killing one of the park’s rhinos in August 2013.

It was the first such attack in six years. Recently 11 White (or Grass) rhino translocated from Nakuru National Park to join the black rhinos.
The park’s wetland areas also sustain approximately 527 species of birds, which is more than in the whole of the UK. , inhabitants include from the heaviest flying bird – the Kori Bustard, to the magnificent forest raptor – the crowned eagle. Narogoman dam the highest and biggest artificial dam of the park. It is located near the main entrance.
Some of the Park’s smaller, but just as thrilling innumerable species of amphibians, reptiles, insects and plants, all of which thrive in the grasslands, forests, rocky valleys, dry forests and the numerous seasonal and permanent wetlands that make Nairobi National Park so special.
Not far inside the park’s main Langata Road Gate, the Ivory Burning Monument marks the spot where, in 1989, Kenyan President Daniel Arap Moi burnt 12 tons of ivory at a site near the main gate. This dramatic event improved Kenya’s conservation image at a time when East African wildlife was being decimated by relentless poaching.
Down in the Nairobi National Park there is the hippo pool which offers a pleasant walk in riverine woodland near the Athi River. Hippopotamus are rarely seen but crocodiles are sometimes there.

Nevertheless, doing the walk is a good experience with a typical “African” smell, fauna and flora: calabash trees populated by family of Vervet monkeys and huge bee nests.
Situated at the south border of the park, this impressive viewpoint looks out onto the dense vegetation and cliffs down the baboon escarpment where the Mbagathi River runs. There is space for parking and small huts with tables for picnics but the baboon can be very disturbing when it is about food.

At least, the small rock hyrax which are always sitting on the rock of the viewpoint awaiting for biscuit are funny to watch and are not as disturbing as the monkeys.
Further North to the Baboon escarpment is the Leopard cliff. Quite similar to the Baboon escarpment, the place has a dense vegetation and small forest.
Also located in the highlands, the Impala Observation point is the best place of the park to picnic or to have a break. Fresh grassy-area surrounding by acacia trees, the picnic site is well maintained and there is a large hut where you can rest while admiring the view over the plains. Note also that toilet is available on the site.
Where else, just on the edge of a capital city, only 15-20 minutes from the centre of town can you go and confidently expect to see lions and rhinos, and much more, in the wild.

In fact it is the best place in Kenya, if not the whole of Africa, to see Black rhinos in the wild. But you must take care not to be too close to them as black rhinoceros is much more dangerous and violent than the white rhinoceros.