We arrived in Nairobi around 6am on 12/5/2024 and we had the whole day to kill before our safari started the next day. We were tired (I am unable to sleep on airplanes, and I only got a short nap the night before), but our room at the Hilton Garden Inn was not available until 3pm. So we dropped our bags off at the hotel and decided to kill time by visiting the giraffe center. The hotel arranged for a driver, so off we went.
The giraffe center was cool because we were could feed the giraffes ourselves, but that only took a few minutes and there is not much more to do after that.
We did a quick nature hike across the street from the giraffe center, but it was only by the time we finished it was still only 10am.
Our driver took us to a great souvenir shop called the Golden Eagle Art Gallery where we spent about $500 and had our stuff shipped back to our home (it all arrived safely before we returned from out trip). The shop had some amazing stuff, including a 6’ giraffe carved out of a single piece of teak (no, I did not buy it). Their wood carvings were all done by hand by three guys working in the back of the store, so we went back and tipped them (they were using rudimentary tools and sanding them by hand).
We still had a few minutes, so our driver recommended that we tour a nearby bead shop that is run entirely by and for the benefit of women who are single parents or widows (Kenya is a very male dominant culture, so women do not have as many opportunities). They gave us a tour of how they make their beads, starting with the dirt from Mt. Kenya all the way through the molding and painting processes. Every 20 minutes or so they would all dance to a hakuna matata song and encourage visitors to join in (I was literally the token white guy). After the tour, we spent another small fortune on beads for Christmas gifts (we are very good tourists).
I kind of freaked out the first time I saw a baboon walking along the side of the road (next to people) and everybody seemed to ignore it. By the end of the trip, I also was more accustomed to it.
Nairobi is the only city in the world that has a national park within the city. The Nairobi national park includes many animals, including the big 5 (elephant, rhinoceros, water buffalo, lion, and leopards). Our hotel was across the freeway from this park, so when we checked into our room, Amie spent the entire afternoon by the pool watching animals through binoculars (we could see some very far away zebras and a giraffe).
My big mistake that day came when we learned that we would be driving most of tour first day of safari and would eat a late lunch, so we went to a nearby Naivas (their local grocery chain) to buy some snack for the road. I bought a passion fruit drink that was bottled by Naivas and I paid the price for that.