Nairobi Kenya Trip Report

I was fortunate to visit Nairobi to deliver a 2-day fraud investigation training course for a major global NGO. This is my Nairobi Kenya trip report where I'll review the hotel and my morning safari to Nairobi National Park 

My flight to Nairobi was "rescheduled" so I arrived late at night - not ideal if the next day is a work day. I was informed that if Kenya Airways has two half-full flights they then cancel ("reschedule") the one in order to have one full flight instead of two half-full flights.

Good for their profitability but not good for passengers. 

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Lesotho Airways and Air Namibia did the same things and they both went bankrupt. So now Air Namibia and Botswana Air are partnering to launch a brand-new, joint national airline. I don't have much hope in this project as I flew to Kasane last year and the locals warned me to not fly Air Botswana due to all their delays and cancellations!    

I flew AirLink to Kasane and they make sure that even half-full flights take off on time, unless there is a situation beyond their control.

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I landed after 10pm at Jomo Kenyatta Airport and the Jacaranda Hotel had sent a shuttle driver to collect me from the airport who waited a few hours for me!

On the way from the airport to the hotel I saw some of the high-rise buildings in the city center that form a backdrop to the wildlife in Nairobi National Park

Jacaranda Hotel

My client booked us into the Jacaranda Hotel Nairobi, which is a historic, 3-star property set on 4 acres of lush, tree-lined gardens in the heart of Westlands.

It offers a quiet suburban oasis just a short walk from the Sarit Centre mall right across the road from the hotel.

The training room was comfortable and the 11 of us had ample space to move with good ventilation.

The training attendees came from South Africa, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe, Palestine, Nepal, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Zambia.

My room was comfortable (just no hot water in the basin), the food was good and the service was excellent.

Here the kitchen staff are making Chapati, which is an East African flatbread heavily influenced by South Asian cuisine, similar to naan bread...

Thanks to Esther, David, Mary, Mac, the chefs, waiters, housekeeping and security staff who made my stay most enjoyable.  

And a special mention to Oscar who ensured that everything in our training room was working each day. He even had a South-African power plug made for me as reception didn't have an adapter!

I found the people in Kenya to be most friendly. The locals would often stop to ask me if I needed help or directions and I felt safe walking the streets.

Nairobi National Park

Nairobi National Park is uniquely famous for being the world's only wildlife capital.

Located just 7 kilometers from Nairobi's bustling city center, it is renowned for offering thrilling safaris where you can spot free-roaming lions, giraffes, and rhinos with a striking backdrop of modern skyscrapers or the railway line that cuts through the park...

The hotel arranged a freelance guide, Kennedy Demba, to collect me on my last day to take me to the park, and then to the airport to catch my 12pm flight. 

This section is lengthy so if you don't have time to read the whole story the lesson is this: use guides who have good reputations! Use social media and sites like TripAdvisor, to see what others say and then book your guide.

This guide was not good and my 4-hour game drive ended up a 2-hour game drive with lots of stress and anxiety.

The arrangement was that I would be collected at 05h30. I went to reception at 05h10 to check out and get my breakfast pack. David, the front desk agent, asked if I needed a lift to the airport and I told him I’m going on a game drive with Kennedy.

David then used his initiative and phoned Kennedy to let him know I was at reception. Kennedy said he was “10 minutes away”. That was at 05h15.

At 05h40 David phoned Kennedy again to ask where he was. He said he was very close. Why could he not phone to say he was running late?

He eventually arrived at 05h50. He apologized and used “traffic” as his excuse. (David's comment to me was "you're his client, if he appreciated your business he would have been waiting for you, not the other way around!")

On the way to the park, I informed Kennedy that I was interested only in capturing images of animals – any animals - with the buildings of Nairobi in the background, so we should stay on the northern plains. 

I explained that I was a wildlife photographer and was therefore not interested in the normal game drive. He acknowledged my request.

Instead of arriving at the main gate at 06h00, we arrived at 06h15 and waited in a queue. I assumed we would go straight to the northern plains.

Instead, Kennedy turns right and when I ask him why he didn’t turn left and head to the plains he says that it’s a one-way road. I didn’t see any no-entry signs on the road.

We went past the Elephant Memorial Ivory Burning Site that commemorates the exact spots where Kenyan presidents burned massive stockpiles of confiscated ivory and rhino horns in a global stand against poaching.

There are "3 piles of ashes" or "pyramids" and this is the largest of the three, where the Kenyan government burned 105 tons of elephant ivory and 1.35 tons of rhino horn—roughly 5% of the world's entire ivory stockpile.

Workers then carefully preserved the ashes in pyramids at the  Ivory Burning Site. 

I did see many rangers inside the park - let's hope they are not as corrupt as the rangers in the Kruger Park. (A recent survey by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) found that up to 75% of the Kruger rangers, security staff and police are thought to be corrupt!)

We then went through a forest and stopped for hyenas, crocodiles at a dam and rhinos in the road. I tell him I’m not interested in these subjects as I already have hundreds of images of these animals. We eventually get to the plains around 07h10 – over 1 hour wasted.

Kennedy kept stopping and chatting to the other field guides in Swahili. Which is fine, as that is how they learn where animals are but he doesn’t tell me what was said and I must keep asking him.

We get to the northern plains but the rhinos that we were told were on the right side of the road, with the buildings in the background, have now crossed the road - opportunity gone.

We did eventually get to see a few animals with the city buildings in the background...

... but instead of staying on the northern plains, Kennedy heads south, under the railway line, away from the plains.

While the city skyline offers a dramatic, photogenic contrast between nature and human progress, the railway line is widely seen as an eyesore that disrupts the illusion of a wild, untouched savanna.

His vehicle then breaks down as the fuel pump packs in. He tells me. “I saw yesterday that the vehicle was developing fuel pump issues”! And he picks me up in that vehicle…!?!?

Other cars drive past us but eventually a Good Samaritan stops to help us and tows us to the Eastern Gate.

I was covered in dust but thankful that we were rescued.

I ended up capturing a few more images of animals with the buildings in the background while being towed!

The other field guide had two guests from Japan in his vehicle who obviously wanted to photograph the animals, so he stopped a few times - I am grateful that he did!

The was another hour gone. So, my 4-hour game drive ended up a 2-hour most frustrating game drive.

While we were chatting, Kennedy mentions to me that one of the other guides told him that "the lions that were seen on Monday in the forest area did come out after we had driven through this morning but had gone back into the bushes".

So now we know why he didn’t go directly to the northern plains – he wanted to find the lions even after me telling him I wasn’t interested.

So many guides think lions = big tip, or they want to show off with the the other guides - "I found the lions"!

After I caught him in this lie, I suspect he also lied about traffic being the cause of him arriving late to collect me.

I did give him a KSH2000 tip – not for the terrible game drive – but because he used his initiative and had phoned an Uber driver who was waiting at the Eastern Gate to take me to the airport. I just made my flight.

My wife and I have been on over 1000 guided game drives in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Tanzania.

We found that 72% of guides are terrible with just 28% being ‘good’.

This statistic is based on our many trips to Madikwe Game Reserve, and specifically over a 12-month period where we experienced 18 field guides at 11 different Madikwe lodges and went on about 150 game drives.

Just 5 (28%) guides were Excellent while 13 ranged between Average and Terrible in terms of working as a team with their guests, finding animals, complying with their clients requests, going the extra mile and the overall safari experience. 

We discuss these Good, Bad and Ugly field guides on this page. 

Guests are paying a high premium when visiting national parks and they expect to go home with above-average photos but, from our experience, they have a 72% chance of being disappointed! 

Kennedy is not the worst as he wasn’t vindictive – he was simply incompetent and dis-interested, spending a lot of time on his mobile phone instead of focusing on his client, arriving late and using a suspect vehicle.

Should I ever have the opportunity to return to Nairobi I will make use of Maxwell Obell who gets excellent reviews on TripAdvisor. 

Jomo Kenyatta International Airport

When I arrived in Nairobi it was dark so I wasn't able to appreciate the airport decor.

On the home trip it was daytime and I could see the wonderful African wildlife murals... 

...and amazing glass window graphics, (or glass imprints / glass paintings as they are also known).

These decorative glass designs feature life-size imprints of Kenya's iconic wildlife—such as lions, giraffes, zebras, and acacia trees.

They are primarily located in the terminal corridors and departure lounges to give passengers the immersive feeling of the African savanna as soon as they step inside!

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Overall, my short visit to Nairobi was enjoyable and I can recommend the Jacaranda Hotel plus a visit to Nairobi National Park. Just choose your guide wisely. 

Hakuna matata! 

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