Nairobi National park is the Kenya’s first national park which is located in South of the center of Nairobi which is the Kenya’s capital approximately 7 kilometers. The park has an electric fence which separates the park’s wildlife from the metropolis and the Nairobi’s skyscrapers are easily seen from the park and there is conflicts between the animals and local people due to the proximity of urban and natural environments which threatens animal’s migration routes. The National park boasts of a varied and large wildlife population and during the dry season, the migrating herbivores gather in the park and the park is one of Kenya’s most successful rhinoceros sanctuaries. Nairobi National park is a small National park in comparison to most 0f Africa’s national parks and it covers an area of 117.21 square kilometers “28,963 acres” and the altitude of the park ranges between 1,533 and 1,760 meters having a dry climate. The park is under the protected part of the Athi-kapiti ecosystem and it has a range of diverse habitats and species.
In the late 19th century the Colonists arrived in the area where the park is and Nairobi had plentiful wildlife, the Nomadic lived and also herded their cattle among the wildlife. The Kikuyu people carried out farming in the forested highlands above Nairobi. By 1910 Nairobi had 14,000 residents as it grew and the conflicts between humans and animals increased and at night the residents of the city carried guns to protect themselves against lions. The residents started complaing that the zebras and giraffes walked on and ruined their flower beds. Later on, the animals were gradually confined (restricted) to the expansive plains in the south and West of Nairobi and the area was set aside by the Colonial government as a game reserve and the settlers including Isak Dinesen, author of Out of Africa from Nairobi rode horses among gazelles, impala and zebras within the reserve.
Mervyn Cowie the conservationist who was born in Nairobi, after a nine-year absence, in 1932 he returned to Kenya and he was alarmed to see that the amount of wild game on the Athi plains had dwindled due to the expanding farms and livestock that had taken the place of the game. He recalled this place as a quickly disappearing paradise and at this time the area that was to become Nairobi National park later was part of the Southern Game Reserve and also hunting was not allowed in the reserve but nearly every other activity including also dumping, cattle grazing, and bombing by the Royal Air Force was allowed. In the midst of all these, Cowie started to campaign for the establishment of a National park system in Kenya and also the government formed a committee examining the matter. Nairobi National was officially established in the year of 1946 becoming the first National park in Kenya and all the Maasai pastoralists removed from their lands. The conservationist Cowie was named as the director of the National Park until 1966. The Kenyan president Daniel arap Moi burned the twelve tons of ivory on site within the park in the year of 1989 which improved the Conservation and wildlife protection image of Kenya.
Attractions in Nairobi National Park Kenya
Flora in Nairobi National Park Kenya
The predominant environment of the park is open grass plain with scattered Acacia bushes. The park has a highland dry forest in the western uplands with stands of Olea Africana, Croton dichogamus, Calodendrum and Brachyaena hutchinsii and the lower slopes are grassland areas which harbors cypress, Digitaria, themeda, and Cynodon species and there are also scattered Yellow-barked Acacia xanthoploea. In the South of the park there is a riverine forest along the permanent river and also the park has areas of broken bush and deep rocky valleys with gorges within. The valley has tree species which include Acacia and Euphorbia Candelabrum, Canthium schimperiana, Ficus eriocarpa, Apodytes dimidiate, Aspilia mossambicensis, Rhus natalensis, and Newtonia species. There are also several plants that grow on the rocky hillsides which are unique to the Nairobi area and they include Drimia calcarata, Murdannia clarkeana and Euphorbia brevitorta.
Wildlife in Nairobi National Park Kenya
Nairobi National park boasts of a large number of diverse wildlife population which includes the eastern black rhino, the Cape buffalo, baboon, gazelle, cheetah, Grant’s zebra, Coke’s hartebeest, African others Leopard, eland, lion, Masai giraffe, ostrich, waterbuck, hippopotamus and the vultures among others. The park also is a home to herbivores including the wildebeest and zebra which use the Kitengela conservation area and migration corridor to the South of the park to reach the Athi-Kapiti plains.
Birdlife in Nairobi National Park Kenya
The park is a home to a diversity of species of bird with over 500 bird species recorded which are permanent and migratory species within the park.
Ngong Hills in Nairobi National Park Kenya
Nyong, this is a Maasai word which means knuckles a fitting name and these beautiful pointed green hills resemble the back of a fist facing the sky. They are close to Nairobi and a popular place to visit. These hills are the peaks of a ridge which do overlook the Great Rift Valley and also many of the white settlers in the early colonial established their farms here. The hills provide beautiful views of wildlife such as the buffalo, bushbucks, gazelles, the occasional klipspringer, giraffes, and troops of baboons among others.
Giraffe Centre in Nairobi National Park Kenya
This giraffe center is found on the edge of Nairobi National park and it bares the endangered Rothschild’s giraffes. The center lies on the grounds of the plush guest house giraffe, Giraffe Manor and it provides conservation education for children and the center has giraffes which are graceful with wet gray giraffe tongues slurping little faces.
David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (The David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage)
This orphan elephant rescue and rehabilitation program is located at the main gates of Nairobi National park and it was founded by Daphne Sheldrick in the year of 1977 in memory of her late husband called David who was a former warden at Tsavo East National park. This center care for the young abandoned rhinos and elephants and also works to release the animals back into the wild and the centerhas over 150 elephants so far raised.
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