Nairobi off the beaten track
 

Have a few days in Nairobi and am doing the usual - Sheldrick, Giraffe Manor, Kazuri Beads, KWS, Kiambethu tea plantation & Village shopping.

Not interested in Carnivore or the Bomas of Kenya.

Still have a day to fill and am looking for something interesting that might be "off the beaten track" or a must do or anything else.

Please let me know what "wowed" you in Nairobi.

National Museum was good. There's a snake park outside if you like that sort of thing. If not, it can be avoided.

Yes I agree the National Museum is a great place to go

Also

1. You can visit the Karen Blixen Museum, if you know anything about her.

2. Just walking around downtown is very nice

3. Right downtown at the Kenyetta Square is the City Hall, Law Courts Building ,Parliament Building and of course the

Round Kenyetta Conference Centre Building.

4. Go inside the Conference Centre Building ,...pay $ 4.00 and go to the very top of the building.

You are totally outside, then climb another 10 steps and you are on top of the Helicopter landing pad.

From here you have the most fantastic breath taking views of all of Nairobi in a 360 degree view.

I took a 2 minute movie from here and turned the whole circle!!

5. Across from the Parliament building is the large Urhuru Park.
Nice to walk in here and see some of the monuments.

6. It is very easy walking downtown Nairobi,everything is close by except for the National Musuem ,but you can even walk there.

7. Walk into the Sarova Stanley Hotel and see where all the hollywood stars (like Gable ,Ava Gardner,Grace Kelly, Gregory Peck and many others) stayed when movies such as Mogambo and Snows of Kilimanjaro were filmed.

I personally wanted to see Nairobi, so I had two full days of just touring Nairobi and surrounding area ,as I did not want to just fly in and then zoom off to a game drive.

Also right downtown on the corner of Haille Selassie Street is the

August 7th Park, it is a small corner park but this is where in 1998 Al-Qaida bombed the US Embassy. 218 people died.

Walk in here ,take a few pictures,see some of the pictorials describing the events of August 7 1998.

visit Ngong hills they are not very far..that is if you like hiking.

Has anyone done the tour of the Kibera slum? I saw it mentioned on TripAdvisor and was pretty interested; I often find that "off the beaten track" tours like that are outstanding. Unfortunately, I didn't have time for it, but the reviews on TA are (mostly) excellent so I wondered whether anyone had tried it. Not sure if that's what you had in mind, KathBC, but it was one thing that came to mind when I saw the title of your post. Here's the link: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractio...s-Nairobi.html

One warning I'll offer for the Karen Blixen Museum: if you're not terribly familiar with her and/or <i>Out of Africa</i> (the movie even moreso than the book), I think you might be bored. I saw some negative reviews of the place before I went; I think they were from people who had only a passing familiarity with her. I accordingly lowered my expectations and found they were pleasantly exceeded; I quite liked the visit, actually. But if you aren't a particular fan of the book or movie, I don't know that it would be much of an attraction.

Oucha, any more hiking info would be appreciated, especially if the hiker was a solo female tourist who would not be driving to the Ngong Hills and heading up alone.

Forgot to put Karen Blixen Museum on the list, great fan of the movie and book.

Now the Kibera slum sounds very interesting but oh gosh will it be too depressing and kinda weird going on a tour to a slum?? Will check this out further.

Keep the ideas comin'!

I know someone (3rd party) who lives and works in the Kibera slums and is smitten. I understand that there is a huge community feel about the place for those who live there. Probably not my cup of tea, and you would really want to have a reputable guide to take you, but could be an eye opener. Usually the places we hear about in the news in a negative way, often turn out to be the most surprising and uplifting.

Very interesting time at Serena hotel. Who were those people in the bar? Diamond smugglers? Great white hunters? Models? To me it looked like a movie.

Does the Serena have a dress code? I only have 33lbs of luggage available. ;)

Yes the Kibera slums sounds very interesting after reading the TA reports. There's a tour company that takes you there, plus think I'll bring my Nairobi guide along as well.

Dress code at Serena? Meaning the one in NBO! Nothing different than anywhere else in Kenya. However, if you choose to take dinner at their great sit-down restaurant (not their buffet one), where if you want to add a great piece of faux jewelry, pashmina or bright top over a pair of slacks would be suitable. But no need to pack anything "special."

You have the same 33/lbs as the rest of us and as we've often mentioned... you'd be surprised just how much you can pack up to that limit. :)