I know this issue has been discussed before, but I can't find any posts from people with recent experiences. So I thought I would ask again.

We will arrive in Nairobi from Kigali on Saturday, Jan. 5 at 11:50 a.m. Our international flight to Paris leaves that evening on Kenya Airways at 10:15. Any suggestions on what we might do in between the flights? It will be me and my wife (ages 49 and 54) and our niece (who is 24). This will be the last day of a very animal intensive safari through Tanzania and Rwanda, so I don’t want anything too “cheesy” or something that will make us too sad for the animals.

We definitely want to adopt elephants and visit the Sheldrick Orphanage. I have heard that fostering an elephant allows us a more private experience, I believe at 5:30 in the evening. I'm not sure how long that lasts. Any other thoughts on this?

Some of the other things I have heard are Rangers restaurant for lunch, the Giraffe Center, the KWS orphanage (with a “Cheetah Hug” - do we have to hire Kennedy Muthoka at Waymark Tours as a guide for that, or is the experience available to all?), Safari Walk, a day room at Giraffe Manor, dinner at Carnivore. I have been to Nairobi once before (19 yrs. ago) and the only thing on this list we did was the Carnivore, and found it to be great. But I don't know for sure what time it opens.

Keep in mind Kenya Airways suggests a check-in 2 1/2 hours before our Paris flight. Does anyone know if we can check in for that flight, get boarding passes and check luggage when we arrive in the morning from Kigali?

I know I ask a lot of questions, but I also know a lot of people have great ideas on here. Thanks in advance.

If you are flying in from Kigali on KQ, then you will be able to check your lugguage through from Rwanda, and also get boarding cards to Paris.

With the elephants, you need to have adopted an elephant before hand, and set up the 5:30pm appointment.

I would do lunch in Karen (Carnivore is cheesy and does not serve game meat anymore). Try the Rusty Nail. Visit the Giraffe's after that, maybe Karen Blixen Musuem and then the elephants. If you are up for dinner, then on the way to the airport is a really cool micro brewery called Sierra that does very good food and beer

Traffic in Nairobi these days is bad, so allow time to get around. What you have suggested may take upto 2 days.

For the 10:15 pm flight to Paris, make sure you are back at the airport by 9:00 pm if you have been pre-checked in from Kigali.

Thanks for the good advice. Our Kigali-Nairobi flight is in fact on KQ. That would be great if we could check in for Paris that morning in Kigali. Do you know if we can do it if the flights are on separate tickets (they had to be done that way for various reasons). Also, since KQ and AF are code-share partners, I wonder if would it be possible to check our bags all the way to Houston? (After flying NBO-CDG on KQ, we connect same day on AF to IAH.) That's not all that important, though, since we have 5 hours in CDG.

Yes, I know what I listed would take 2 days, and that is why I am looking for advice. Thanks for the advice on the Carnivore. I liked it 19 years ago, but the fact that they don't even serve game anymore is interesting.

sevendown-

We had lunch last year at the Carnivore, and supper at the Sierra Brewing Club by the airport. I LOVED the Carnivore - game meat or not. I loved the atmoshpere, it was fun.

Sierra had just opened so we probably shouldn't judge it too much as the service was slow. The food was good, but it reminded me of the 'west coast cuisine' that we get here all of the time - good presentation, little substance on the plate, you know! It just wasn't Africa. Mind you, we were in a group of 18, so we had a set menu to chosse from. Slelecting from a regular menu may be different.

This year we chose the Carnivore to go back to for supper.

About the cheetah hug - other people on the board have gone on their own, and have had good success. But Kennedy is a wonderful guide (& a wonderful person)who will take you anywhere you want for the day. If you do hire him, you won't have to worry about cabs here or there or the next place. He will pick you up from the airport, take you around all day, and have you back by the time you need to go - all for a reasonable price. Leave at least 2 hrs - if not three before your flight, sometimes the security checks & the wheels turn slowly at the airport there.

We adopted an elephant this year - it was much better going at 5:00 than last year when we went at 11:00. I really enjoyed it.

Last December we left Wilson airport around 11:30, went shopping and had lunch at the Junction, drove around Karen looking for the butterfly center until we realized it had closed, went to the KWS orphanage and safari walk, and made it to Sheldrick by 5:00pm. We probably could've had time to stop by the Giraffe Centre too but had done that on a previous trip. You'd be coming from NBO a little later but as you can see, you can fit in quite a bit in one afternoon as these places are all within close proximity of each other. As long as you're not criss-crossing the city, you're OK. But I wouldn't bother with a day room if you're going to try to hit all of these places as you won't have time to use it.

Some have done the "cheetah hug" on their own http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34887591 and http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34921781

We didn't inquire, but I believe you can pet the cheetahs at either the orphanage or safari walk. I have to admit I found the orphanage depressing (JMO). The safari walk was much more pleasant in contrast.

You can email Sheldrick directly to set up the appointment for an afternoon foster parent visit. They let us in shortly after we arrived at 5:00pm and there was only one other family there that afternoon. We stayed for about an hour but it didn't seem like there was any time limit.

I'd show the KQ agent in Kigali your other tickets and ask that your bags be tagged to your final destination. They should be able to do this, even with separate tickets.

You have to go through a security check to get back into the airport, passport control and another security check at the gate. The Simba lounge has snacks and drinks but can get a bit crowded with all of the evening departures. I'd wait until close to boarding before going through gate security as there's nothing to do once you're in the boarding area.

Thanks Patty. I assume you meant the KWS orphanage was depressing, not the Sheldrick one?

LyndaS -- I have been to the Carnivore for dinner, but not lunch. Dinner was an "event" and great fun, whereas lunch for me most days seems usually to just be a meal. Do you have a recommendation? We could probably do either given our schedule.

If we have already checked in for our Paris flight, I probably would prefer the Carnivore at night, but I'm open. (If we haven't checked in, I don't think we would have time as I think it only opens at 7:00.) Anyone know of a good, fun place for lunch near the Nairobi National Park area where all of these things are located?

Yes, that's what I meant, sorry I wasn't clear. I enjoyed both my Sheldrick visits but there are a lot more people at the 11:00 one.

sevendown

we fly Kigali - NBO - AMS - LAX - SLC in Feb this year. Our Kigali - NBO flight was with Rwandair Express & the rest of the flights were with KLM & Delta. We were able to check our bags in in Kigali for the total journey and the tickets were separate tickets. I just gave them all in at the desk in Kigali when we checked in. The bag check in is not computerised so the person checking us in hand wrote out the luggage lable. All our bags arrived at the destination no problem!

J