Established in 1946 and covering about 45 square miles, Nairobi National Park was Kenya’s first national park and remains one of its most ecologically important, despite being tiny by African standards. It protects rolling grassland, acacia bush, and riverine forest on the southern edge of the city.
Readers chose it as Best Wildlife Destination this year because it’s a genuinely wild place pressed up against a lively African capital, where conservation, urban growth, and local culture can be experienced in the same day.
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Nairobi National Park’s signature image — a giraffe or rhino framed against downtown skyscrapers — is iconic for many reasons, but don’t let that striking scene distract from the ecological importance. The park is home to more than 100 mammal species and more than 500 recorded bird species. Of the “Big Five,” four live here: lions, leopards, buffalo, and rhinos. Elephants are the notable exception, largely absent because of how much space the animals need to roam.
The marquee animals are joined by many more that wildlife travelers have on their wish lists. Cheetahs and hyenas roam, as do plains animals like zebra, wildebeest, giraffe, eland, hartebeest, impala, and gazelles.
The park is one of Kenya’s most successful rhino sanctuaries, with breeding populations of both black and white rhinos that help restock other protected areas. That means visitors on even a half-day game drive have a strong chance of seeing one of Africa’s most threatened mammals in a setting that feels surprisingly wild considering Nairobi’s commuter traffic is just beyond the fence.
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Because Nairobi National Park sits on the city’s doorstep, its conservation story is unusually visible.
The park’s open southern boundary connects to the Kitengela Conservation Area and wider Athi-Kapiti plains, creating a migration corridor for wildebeest, zebra, and other grazers who come and go with the wet and dry seasons. That corridor has been squeezed for decades by changing land use and growing human and livestock populations. In 2025, the Kenyan Cabinet officially approved the Nairobi National Park Athi-Kapiti Wildlife Corridor to protect natural pathways.
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Inside the park, the Ivory Burning Site is one of the most powerful conservation landmarks in Africa. Here, Kenya burned confiscated ivory in 1989 and again in 2016 to signal a no-tolerance stance on the ivory trade. Today, the site is marked by a monument and picnic area where visitors learn about those burns and Kenya’s broader anti-poaching efforts.
Photo: Melnikov Dmitriy/Shutterstock
Part of the park’s appeal is how easy it is to work into almost any Kenya itinerary.
Nairobi National Park lies just south of the city center, with the main gate less than 5 miles from downtown and within relatively easy reach of both Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and Wilson Airport.
Most visitors experience it as a half- or full-day trip: early-morning or late-afternoon game drives that bookend business travel, long layovers, or time in the capital before heading onward to other reserves.
Typical experiences include sunrise or sunset game drives with Nairobi’s skyline glowing in the background, stops at animal viewing points, and a visit to the Ivory Burning Site. Add-ons nearby include the Nairobi Safari Walk, the Kenya Wildlife Service animal orphanage, or the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust’s elephant nursery just outside the park boundary.
The park can be visited year-round, but wildlife viewing is easiest in the dry seasons when grass is shorter and animals cluster around water — roughly June to October and January to March. The wetter months bring greener landscapes, newborn animals, and peak birding, though some tracks may become muddy and sightings can be more challenging.
Because Nairobi National Park is small and popular, especially on weekends and holidays, booking with a reputable local operator or guide helps avoid bottlenecks and supports the people most invested in keeping this urban wildlife refuge thriving.
For the 2025 Matador Network Readers’ Choice Awards, we asked our global audience of 300,000-plus email subscribers to vote for the places and experiences that define travel for them. The survey covered six categories: Next Big Destination, Best Adventure Destination, Best Sustainable Destination, Best Wellness Destination, Best Wildlife Destination, and Best Airline. After the voting period closed, our team verified and tallied the results to determine a single Readers’ Choice winner in each category.
Each category included a shortlist of nominees curated by Matador’s editorial team based on reporting, industry trends, and community feedback. Voters could also write in their own picks if a favorite wasn’t listed.
In the Best Wildlife Destination category, Nairobi National Park received the highest share of verified votes, earning its place as the Matador Network Readers’ Choice pick for 2025.