Nairobi City Excursions:

These are short tours starting from Nairobi city council and in some cases going out of Nairobi city and ending within the same Nairobi city council. They take tourists to touristic sites within and without Nairobi and its environs. Victoria Safaris is a specialist tour operator with its office headquarters in Nairobi operating throughout Africa and in particular; South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania which includes Pemba and Zanzibar. We offer excursions and transit tours and short Safaris to Nairobi National Park, Nairobi City centre, Karen Blixen House, Giraffe Center, Bomas of Kenya, Ngong Forest Walks, The Carnivore Restaurant and other touristic sites within the Nairobi City council. These include:

Nairobi City Tour – 3 hours

Highlights:

History of Nairobi: Founded in 1899, the city was handed capital status from Mombasa in 1905. Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. It is popularly known as the “Green City in the Sun”. Nairobi is also the capital of the Nairobi Province and of the Nairobi District. The city lies on the Nairobi River, in the south of the nation, and has an elevation of 1661M (5450 ft) above sea-level. Nairobi is currently the 4th largest city in Africa and the most populous city in East Africa, with an estimated urban population of between 3 and 4 million. According to the 1999 Census, in the administrative area of Nairobi, 2,143,254 inhabitants lived within 684 km².Nairobi is now one of the most prominent cities in Africa politically and financially. Home to many companies and organizations, Nairobi is established as a hub for Airlines into Africa, business and culture within East Africa.

Nairobi City Today:

What once was a remote railway outpost has become the largest city between Johannesburg and Cairo and is Kenya's capital city and the world's safari capital. It has long been the commercial centre of Eastern Africa and one of the world's cross-roads with its international airport servicing most of the world's airlines. Kenya's capital city has risen in a single century from a brackish uninhabited swampland to a thriving modern capital. Nairobi is a city that never seems to sleep. The entire town has a boundless energy, and is a 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.

Some of the places to visit whilst in Nairobi include; the National Theatre, Phoenix Theatre, McMillan Memorial Library, Kenyatta International Conference Centre, Parliament Buildings, Nairobi National Park, the Snake Park, National Museum, Bomas of Kenya (for traditional dancing and tribal villages), Nairobi Races (horse racing on Sundays), and the National International Show (August/September/October). Nairobi also has several modern cinemas in the city centre and two drive-in cinemas. The City Market on Muindi Mbingu Street is worth a visit if you are shopping for curios. Depending on how good your bartering is, you can get a good bargain be it soapstone carvings, wood carvings or other handicrafts. The city has not lost its sense of the past, with an excellent museum and the historical home of Karen Blixen, author of Out of Africa open to visitors.

Itinerary:

This tour covers the modern city centre, the colourful City market, Parliament buildings, Kenyatta International Conference Centre; the landmark of Nairobi (KICC), The 7th Memorial Park (Bomblast, the Railway Station and the Railway Museum the National Theatre, Phoenix Theatre, McMillan Memorial Library and the renowned National Museum where there are spell-binding displays of the early man, tribal regalia and flora and fauna of Kenya. A visit to the adjacent snake park is also included. The tour returns to your city hotel or residence.

Cost:

Cost Includes:

• Service of an English speaking driver guide
• Transport based on a safari Minivan vehicle with pop up roof for game viewing
• Driver allowances and park fees for vehicle and driver where applicable
• Any applicable taxes

Cost Excludes:

• Entrance fees where applicable
• Extras –tips, drinks or any other personal expenses
  
  
  

Nairobi National Park - 4 hours - Day Tours and Night Tours

Highlights:

Nairobi National Park is a national park in Kenya established in 1946 and is the first National Park in Kenya. It is located approximately 7 kilometres south of the centre of Nairobi, Kenya's capital city, with only a fence separating the park's wildlife from the metropolis. Nairobi's skyscrapers can be seen from the park. Indeed, the proximity of urban and natural environments has caused conflicts between the animals and local people and threatens animals' migration routes. The 117 km2 Nairobi National Park is unique by being the only protected area in the world with a variety of animals and birds close to a capital city. As expected, the park is a principal attraction for visitors to Nairobi. Still, despite its proximity to civilization and relative small size for an African national park, Nairobi National Park boasts a large and varied wildlife population.

Migrating herbivores gather in the park during the dry season, and it is one of Kenya's most successful rhinoceros sanctuaries. Open grass plains with scattered acacia bush are predominant. The Park has a diversity of environments with characteristic fauna and flora. The park has a rich and diverse birdlife with 400 species recorded. However all species are not always present and some are seasonal. Northern migrants pass through the park primarily during late March through April. To the south of the park is the Athi-Kapiti Plains and Kitengela Migration and dispersal area. These are vital areas for herbivores dispersal during the rains and concentrate in the park in the dry season. The western side has a highland dry forest and a permanent river with a riverine forest in the south. In addition, there are stretches of broken bush country and deep, rocky valleys and gorges with scrub and long grass. Man-made dams have also added a further habitat, favourable to certain species of birds and other aquatic biota (life forms). The dams also attract water dependent herbivores during the dry season. Nairobi National Park is one of the most successful of Kenya's rhino sanctuaries that is already generating a stock for reintroduction in the species former range and other upcoming sanctuaries. Due to this success, it is one of the few parks where a visitor can be certain of seeing a black rhino in its natural habitat.

Itinerary:

This tour departs daily at 0600 am and at 0200 hrs. This unique wildlife sanctuary is just a few kilometres from Nairobi's bustling city centre, with Nairobi boasting of having the only wildlife sanctuary to be found in the city precincts in the world. Despite its proximity over 50 species of mammals can be found there, including four of the Big Five with elephant species not being represented. The tour also includes a visit to the animal orphanage at the park gate. The tour returns to the city centre by mid morning or at sundown. Private tour of the same can be organized at any time in the Day and in The Night for night tours of this wonderful Game Park for a minimum of 1, 2, 3 and 4 pax in a group or more.

Night Trips into Nairobi National Park

Note: The Nairobi national Park has started Night tours with arrangements. We can arrange for your group which is on transit overnight to visit this park and also for those who intend to tour this park for night adventures.

Cost: Day Trips

Cost: Night Trips

Cost Includes:

• Service of an English speaking driver guide
• Transport based on a safari Minivan vehicle with pop up roof for game viewing
• Driver allowances and park fees for vehicle and driver where applicable
• Any applicable taxes

Cost Excludes:

• Park Entrance fees where applicable
• Extras –tips, drinks or any other personal expenses
  
  

Karen Blixen and Giraffe Centre - 4 hours

Highlights:

Karen Blixen Museum is open to the Public every day (9.30 am to 6pm) including weekends and public holidays. Located 10km from the city centre, the Museum belongs to a different time period in the history of Kenya. The farm house gained international fame with the release of the movie ‘Out of Africa' an Oscar winning film based on Karen's an autobiography by the same title.Visitors are encouraged to be at the Museum by 8.00 am - 5.30 pm. Guided tours are offered continuously. A museum shop offers handicrafts, posters and postcards, the Movie ‘Out of Africa', books and other Kenyan souvenirs. The grounds may be rented for wedding receptions, corporate functions and other events. Karen Blixen Museum was once the centre piece of a farm at the foot of the Ngong Hills owned by Danish Author Karen and her Swedish Husband, Baron Bror von Blixen Fincke.

The Museum was built in 1912 by Swedish Engineer Ake Sjogren. Karen and her husband bought the Museum house in 1917 and it become the farm house for their 4500 acre farm, of which 600 acres was used for coffee farming. Their marriage failed after eight years and in 1921 the Baron moved on and left the running of the farm to Karen. Karen lived at the house until her return to Denmark in 1931. The house farm was bought by Remy Marin, who broke the land into 20 acre parcels for development. Subsequent development created the present suburb of Karen. Records indicate that a Lt. Col.G. Lloyd, an officer of the British Army bought the house in 1935 and lived there until his death in 1954, when it passed to his daughters, Mrs. G. Robersts and Lavender Llyod. A transfer of title to Mrs. J.P Robson and Mrs L.B. Hyde is in City Hall records in 1956. The house was sporadically occupied until purchased in 1964 by the Danish government and given to the Kenyan government as an independence gift. The government set up a college of nutrition and the Museum was initially used as the principal's house. In 1985 the shooting of a movie based on Karen's autobiography began and the National Museums of Kenya expressed acquired the house for the purpose of establishing a Museum. The Museum was opened in 1986.

The Giraffe Center was started by Jock Leslie-Melville, the Kenyan grandson of a Scottish Earl, when he and his wife Betty captured a baby giraffe to start a programme of breeding giraffe in captivity at their home in Langata - home of the present centre. Since then the programme has had huge success, resulting in the introduction of several breeding pairs of Rothschild Giraffe into Kenyan national parks.

The Giraffe Centre is located Langata, approximately 5 km from the centre of Nairobi, Kenya. It was established in order to protect the endangered Rothschild giraffe, giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi, that is found only in the grasslands of Africa. In 1979, Leslie-Melville added an education centre to his (then still private) giraffe sanctuary. By 1983 he had raised enough money to establish the Giraffe Visitor's Centre as a tourist destination in Nairobi. The center is also home to several warthogs which freely roam the area along with the giraffes. The main attraction for visitors is feeding giraffes from a raised observation platform.

Itinerary:

Drive towards the Ngong Hills and pass the Ngong village to the Karen Blixen Museum, for many years was her home. Later proceed to the Giraffe Centre to see and hand feed the famous endangered species of Rothschild Giraffe and her family.

Cost:

Cost Includes:

• Service of an English speaking driver guide
• Transport based on a safari Minivan vehicle with pop up roof for game viewing Or a Small Car
• Driver allowances and park fees for vehicle and driver where applicable
• Any applicable taxes

Cost Excludes:

• Entrance fees where applicable
• Extras –tips, drinks or any other personal expenses
  
  

Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage, Karen Blixen and Giraffe Centre - 5 hours

Highlights:

The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust is a small, flexible charity, established in 1977 to honour to memory of a famous Naturalist, David Leslie William Sheldrick MBE, the founder Warden of Tsavo East National Park in Kenya, where he served from its inception in 1948 until his transfer to Nairobi in 1976 to head the Planning Unit of the newly created Wildlife Conservation & Management Department. David died 6 months later but his legacy of excellence and the systems he installed for the management of Tsavo and wildlife generally in Kenya, particularly in the sphere of wildlife husbandry and ethics, lives on. David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage is where you come close to elephant calves. Daphne Sheldrick, As part of the David Sheldrick Conservation Foundation, rehabilitates baby elephants and other wildlife here at her home just outside of Nairobi National Park. These babies have lost their mothers to poaching, death, injuries, on getting lost in the wild or other tragedies. Daphne and her dedicated staff raise them to be released back into the wild when they are ready. It's worth visiting and witness the humanitarian care to the wildlife and the heart it takes to care. They charge a small entrance fee, instead you can buy a souvenir or donate for the conservation.

The Giraffe Center was started by Jock Leslie-Melville, the Kenyan grandson of a Scottish Earl, when he and his wife Betty captured a baby giraffe to start a programme of breeding giraffe in captivity at their home in Langata - home of the present centre. Since then the programme has had huge success, resulting in the introduction of several breeding pairs of Rothschild Giraffe into Kenyan national parks. The Giraffe Centre is located Langata, approximately 5 km from the centre of Nairobi, Kenya. It was established in order to protect the endangered Rothschild giraffe, giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi, that is found only in the grasslands of Africa. In 1979, Leslie-Melville added an education centre to his (then still private) giraffe sanctuary. By 1983 he had raised enough money to establish the Giraffe Visitor's Centre as a tourist destination in Nairobi. The center is also home to several warthogs which freely roam the area along with the giraffes. The main attraction for visitors is feeding giraffes from a raised observation platform.

Itinerary:

Drive towards the Nairobi National Park to Sheldrick Baby Elephant Orphanage which is open 1 hr daily. You can visit between 11am and 12 noon every day, and see the elephants being fed and playing. In addition, there is a keeper who will give a talk about the elephants, where they came from, how they are getting on, and how some of the previous orphans are progressing.

You can get really close to the elephants. The orphanage also takes in rhinos and so if you are lucky you will get the chance to see a young rhino. Continue to the Karen Blixen Museum, for many years was her home. Later proceed to the Giraffe Centre to see and hand feed the famous endangered species of Rothschild Giraffe and her family.

Cost:

Cost Includes:

• Service of an English speaking driver guide
• Transport based on a safari Minivan vehicle with pop up roof for game viewing
• Driver allowances and park fees for vehicle and driver where applicable
• Any applicable taxes

Cost Excludes:

• Entrance fees where applicable
• Extras –tips, drinks or any other personal expenses
• Entrance fees where applicable
• Extras – tips, drinks or any other personal expenses
  
  

Bomas of Kenya- 3 hours

Bomas is a homestead and is located just 10 kilometers from the city centre with numerous homesteads reflecting Kenya's cocktail of cultures depicting in a traditional village life style.

You will be treated to a rich traditional music and dance show at this cultural centre. The greatest excitement is the display of traditional dances, music, and songs being performed in a splendid area. Traditional dishes may be served as extras.

Cost:

Cost Includes:

• Service of an English speaking driver guide
• Transport based on a safari Minivan vehicle with pop up roof for game viewing Or a Small Car
• Driver allowances and park fees for vehicle and driver where applicable
• Any applicable taxes

Cost Excludes:

• Entrance fees where applicable
• Extras –tips, drinks or any other personal expenses