Nairobi short tours
Nairobi is the capital city of Kenya and is a city that never seems to sleep. The entire town has a boundless energy, and is thriving place where all of human life can be found. This is a place of great contrasts where race, tribe and origin all become facets of a unique Nairobi character.

Nairobi short tours
A little more than a century ago, lions, rhino, leopards, giraffes, deadly snakes and myriads other animals roamed free here. The brave Maasai brought their beloved cattle to the fresh waters of the river they called Uaso Nairobi meaning ‘Cold water'. In fact, they named the area Enkarre Nairobi meaning ‘Place of Cold Waters'. Since then, Nairobi has undergone a complete metamorphosis. Its growth is evident in its ever-changing skyline. Today's tall and imposing buildings of glass and steel sparkling in the light of the setting tropical sun are a sight to behold. It is almost impossible to believe that , Nairobi was a lurking place for wild beasts-a dangerous area for humans.

Nairobi short tours
It would be very unfair to talk about Nairobi and fail to mention that it is a melting pot of beautiful cultures. The population of the city totals over two million, comprising of native Kenyans [mostly working migrants from all over Kenya], Indian-Kenyans [descendants of the Indians who came to Kenya to help in constructing the Kenya Railway once known as the Lunatic express], Australian, Canadian, American, Asian and European settlers and their descendants as well as temporary and permanent residents from the same countries. All together, they form a truly cosmopolitan culture.

It is no wonder then that the city is host to world and regional bodies. The United Nations Environment Programme has its world headquarters in Nairobi.

The city large by African standards. Therefore, it would be stupid to ignore the fact that it suffers from the ills that afflict most large cities. However, that should not stop anyone from enjoying the beauty of the ‘place of cool waters'.

Nairobi short tours
Nairobi is itself a tourist destination. This is not a modern city separated from the great wilderness that surrounds it. Just on its doorstep the Nairobi National Park located less than six miles from the city centre is a visitor's haven. The park is home to most popular species only the elephant is an absentee. But the rest of the Big Five - leopard, lion, buffalo and rhino - as well as a multitude of other creatures are all well represented.

A few minutes walk from the city centre is the National Museum, home to artefacts that tell of Kenya's rich history as well as some cold-blooded residents, crocodiles, tortoises and the slithering type- cobras, vipers and pythons. A sign in the snake park reads: ‘Trespassers will be poisoned'.

Nairobi short tours
The Giraffe Manor, built in 1932 by Sir David Duncan, is surrounded by 140 acres of its own park and forest thirty minutes from the centre of Nairobi, Kenya's capital city, with superb views of the Ngong Hills. In 1974 Jock Leslie-Melville, grandson of a Scots earl, and his American wife Betty, who also founded the African Fund for Endangered Wildlife (AFEW), bought the Manor. They then moved two highly endangered baby Rothschildgiraffe to the estate, where they thrived and have produced several further generations of giraffe.

When Jock died, Betty decided to open her house, now called The Giraffe Manor, to visitors. It is the only place in the world where you can feed and photograph the giraffe over your breakfast table and at the front door, and even from a bedroom window. The Giraffe Manor is an elegant and exclusive small hotel with a rich blend of welcoming accommodation, highly trained staff and one of Nairobi's finest kitchens.

Nairobi short tours
Karen Blixen remains a complex figure in the writing and history of colonial Africa. Author, storyteller, and early colonizer, she helped to define Africa and its people for the many Europeans who read her novels, chiefly Out of Africa and Shadows on the Grass. Criticism of her work frequently shifts from admiration of her form to outrage at her portrayal of Africans. Karen Blixen's complicated life and work continue to be studied, debated, and questioned in light of both the colonial society she inhabited and the modern reality of a postcolonial world.

Nairobi short tours
Her house and surrounding land was donated by the Danish government to Kenya at independence; the house was restored by the Danish government and was used during the filming of Out of Africa, which immortalised Karen Blixen's book by the same name. The Museum was opened to the public in 1986.