Nairobi: how many days you need and when the migration happens

When to go, and the two dry seasons

Kenya sits on the equator, so there is no summer or winter — there are two rainy seasons and two dry ones, and they matter a great deal for wildlife viewing.

1. January: Go nowJan
2. February: Go nowFeb
3. March: Think twiceMar
4. April: Think twiceApr
5. May: Think twiceMay
6. June: Worth it, butJun
7. July: Go nowJul
8. August: Go nowAug
9. September: Go nowSep
10. October: Go nowOct
11. November: Worth it, butNov
12. DecemberDec

• Go now
• Worth it, but
• Think twice

• July to October

  Go now

  Long dry season, and the migration window

  The best game-viewing conditions: dry, thin vegetation, and animals gathered at water. The Great Migration is usually in the Maasai Mara somewhere in this window, though the exact timing shifts every year with the rains and cannot be booked to a date. Peak prices and full camps.

• January and February

  Go now

  Short dry season, hot and much quieter

  Dry, hot, and with far fewer visitors than the mid-year peak. Excellent game viewing without the migration crowds, and calving season in some parks.

• June and November

  Worth it, but

  Shoulder months, lower prices

  Transitional and less predictable, but noticeably cheaper and quieter. Reasonable value if the migration is not the point of the trip.

• March to May

  Think twice

  The long rains

  The heaviest rainfall of the year. Tracks become difficult, some camps close entirely, and viewing is harder because the vegetation is thick and the animals disperse. Prices are at their lowest for exactly these reasons.

How to use the city

One or two days is the right amount. The national park on the city's southern edge is genuinely unusual — large mammals with a skyline behind them — and there are a couple of well-known conservation centres that make a good half-day.

The real question is what Nairobi is a gateway to. The Maasai Mara, Amboseli and the coast are all onward journeys with their own seasons, and the internal flights that connect them need booking well ahead in high season.

What the trip usually contains

Almost everyone treats Nairobi as the first and last night of a longer trip, and the shape of that trip is what to get right.

• Nairobi National Park — on the city edge, and an easy half-day.
• The Maasai Mara — the main draw, and where migration timing matters.
• Amboseli and Tsavo — closer, quieter, and with a different landscape.
• The coast — Mombasa and Diani, on a different climate calendar from the interior.

Where to stay, and the traffic that shapes everything

Nairobi has a serious traffic problem and that is the main criterion for choosing accommodation: being on the right side of the city for what you plan to do. Jams can turn ten kilometres into an hour, and that matters especially with a flight or an early departure to a park.

The city divides clearly between the centre — dense and business-oriented — and the residential districts to the west, greener and quieter, where nearly all decent hotels and restaurants are.

Compare these areas against your priorities

Arriving, getting around and organising the safari

Nairobi is East Africa's gateway and its airport is a major hub. There is little distance from airport to city and a great deal of traffic, so the transfer is arranged through your hotel or an app, not by flagging a car down.

And here is the point that genuinely needs planning: a safari is not improvised from Nairobi. The good parks are hours away by road or a short flight, accommodation inside the reserves is limited and fills up, and the migration has approximate dates that move every price.

• Maasai Mara — five or six hours by road, or under an hour by light aircraft. It is where the migration happens and where almost everyone goes.
• The wildebeest migration crosses the Mara roughly between mid and late year, but the dates shift each year with the rains. Nobody can guarantee them months ahead.
• Amboseli — about four hours away, with elephants and Kilimanjaro behind them when it is clear.
• Light aircraft have strict baggage limits — a soft bag and few kilos — and many hotels store your large case while you are in the park.
• Book the safari genuinely far ahead. It is the expensive part of the trip and the part that goes worst improvised.

What to do in the city, and what is unique here

Nairobi has something no other capital in the world does: a national park right beside the centre, with lions and rhinos and the skyline behind them in the same photograph. It does not replace a real safari, but it is an extraordinary morning if the trip is short.

The rest of the city is covered in one well-organised day, and nearly all of it is in the Karen area to the southwest, which lets you chain it together without returning to the centre.

• Nairobi National Park — best at first light. You enter with your own vehicle or on a tour, and lions are not guaranteed.
• Giraffe Centre — you feed them from a platform at head height. It is touristy and works very well with children.
• Karen Blixen Museum — the house of the author of Out of Africa, with the garden and the Ngong Hills behind.
• Elephant orphanage — open to the public at one set hour a day, and booking is required. It is the visit most people remember.
• National Museum and Kazuri — natural history and a women's pottery workshop. Closing times vary by season.

Eating in Nairobi, and some common sense

Nairobi has a far more interesting food scene than almost anyone expects: Kenyan cooking, Indian food from the long-established South Asian community, Ethiopian, and a considerable modern scene in Westlands and Karen. It is the city's best surprise.

Local food centres on nyama choma — grilled meat ordered by weight and shared — and ugali, a maize flour dough that accompanies almost everything. You eat with your hands, and water is passed round to wash them first.

• Nyama choma — goat or beef grilled, ordered by the kilo and carved at the table. It is a weekend social meal.
• Nairobi's Ethiopian food is excellent and there are plenty of restaurants: injera and stews shared from a communal platter.
• Kenyan chai is made with milk and spices and drunk at all hours.
• Drink bottled water and on the street eat where there is turnover. In Westlands and Karen restaurants no special precautions are needed.
• Do not walk around the centre at night and avoid displaying valuables. It is the standard advice any resident gives.

Where to eat in Nairobi, dish by dish

Nairobi is a city where you eat before and after the thing you came for, and both meals are better than visitors expect. The food is meat, maize and greens, and it is generous. One practical note that shapes every plan here: traffic is severe, so pick a restaurant near where you are rather than near where you would like to be.

• Carnivore

  Institution

  The famous one, and what it actually is

  An open-pit restaurant serving grilled meats carved at the table until you surrender a paper flag. It is very touristy and it is also a genuine Nairobi institution that locals use for celebrations. It used to serve game meat and no longer does — that changed with the law, and anywhere still advertising it is worth being suspicious of.

  Check it on Wikidata

• Nyama choma

  What to order

  The everyday version, which is better

  Grilled meat — usually goat or beef — sold by weight, chopped on a board and eaten with your hands with salt, chilli and kachumbari salad. This is the national social meal and it happens at butcheries with a grill out back all over the city. Order by the kilo for a group; half a kilo is a large meal for one.

  Check it on Wikidata

• Ugali

  What to order

  The staple everything is served with

  A stiff maize porridge, cut into slabs and used to scoop stew and greens. It is the base of the Kenyan plate and it is filling in a way that is easy to underestimate. Ask for sukuma wiki alongside — braised collard greens, the standard accompaniment, and the thing that makes the plate work.

  Check it on Wikidata

• Nando's

  Chain

  The reliable fallback, near everything

  The peri-peri chicken chain from South Africa, widespread in Nairobi. It earns a place for exactly one reason: when a game drive has overrun, the traffic has beaten you and you need a known quantity near the hotel, it is there and it is fine. Use it as the fallback, not the plan.

  Check it on Wikidata

Things that change the trip

1. 1The migration cannot be booked to a date. It moves with the rains and varies by weeks each year. Plan a window, not a day.
2. 2Internal flights to the parks have strict and low baggage limits, usually soft bags only. Check before packing.
3. 3Nairobi traffic is severe and unpredictable. Allow far more time for airport transfers than the distance implies.
4. 4Check current health and vaccination requirements well ahead — some need to be started weeks before travel.
5. 5Park fees are a significant and separate part of the cost, and they change. Budget for them explicitly.