I had a supervisor in the British military who was very familiar with Nairobi. When I told him I was going to Nairobi for a few days, he sent me this amazing email that is clearly both a labor of love and something that has been through many edits and improvements over the years. Thank you Colonel Andy! The rest is his text:

As discussed, below are places, things to do that I really enjoyed whilst I lived in Nairobbery…. Nairobi is one of my favourite cities. There are dangerous areas though so always keep your wits about you, on the map they are ringed in red, but there are other dodgy areas too. The Kenyan approach to driving explains their outrageously high road death rate and will probably get your heart rate up from time to time. Tipping is more European, than US; it is expected in western restaurants, but ordinarily you wouldn’t expect to pay more than 10%. If someone is your guide, I would give them 1000 shillings (‘bob’); that is about $8, but 800 bob is the average daily wage of most Kenyans, so it goes a long way.

These are the places I particularly liked or enjoyed:

1 – Village Market Great for eating, sleeping and drinking. There are loads of good restaurants, the Tribe and Trademark hotels are both there and are excellent and the Hero Bar is in the Trademark 10th floor, or similar. It has a great view of the city, good food and even better cocktails.

2 – Westlands Home of the Sarit Centre, Westgate Mall (infamous from 2013, but now a safe and normal shopping mall), loads of restaurants and the Alchemist bar, which is both delightful and odd – detail in the second map. For food, there is the Nikkei Experience , which does great food, but more importantly, it is on the top floor of the One Africa Building (20th floor ?), so you get great views.

3 – Karura Forest Just a wonderful oasis in an otherwise crazy city.

4 – The National Museum It is a nice distraction from the world, but if natural history is not your thing, it also has a snake park as part of the complex!

Avoid the areas highlighted in red

Zoomed in map for the Westland Center area

1 – Sarit Centre mall?

2 – Westgate Is Westgate a renamed Westland.

3 – The Alchemist bar.

Finally, for further afield, but all within an hour(ish):

1 – Nairobi National Park It is mind blowing that you can see 4/5 of the big 5 here (there are no elephants) so close to the city. Sometimes you will see animals all over the place, sometimes you might only see impala, zebras and giraffes, but you will always see something. A half day trip, starting early is likely to give you a great ‘mini’ safari.

2 – Lake Naivasha It is a peaceful place, but with giraffes, pythons and hippos! Boat trips are cheap and well worth it.

3 – Hells Gate National Park Supposedly the inspiration for the Lion King (though there are no lions), you can see ‘Simba’s rock’ and the canyon. Perhaps the best thing, however, is that you can actually walk around this park, you will see loads of animals – just be careful of the leopards!

4 – Mount Longonot A dormant volcano, you can walk the circumference of the crater, which is pretty cool. I can’t remember how long it took to ascend, walk around it and then descend, but it is a most of the day activity.

There are loads more things that you can do; there are the Ngong hills to the west of Nairobi which offer a decent hike, the Boma Village which represents a traditional Masai village, to name but 2. I recommend that you look at Time out and Rough Guide websites for other ideas, as what appeals to me is, just what appeals to me.

Regards

Andy