You do not need a week off or a big budget to travel properly. Seven trips you can leave for on Friday evening and be back from by Sunday night.
The most common thing we hear is that people would travel more if they had the time and money. Almost always, they have enough of both — the gap is knowing what is genuinely doable in two days from Nairobi.
Every trip below is under KSh 15,000 per person including transport and at least one night's accommodation.
1. Lake Naivasha and Hell's Gate — from KSh 9,500
Ninety minutes on the expressway. Cycle through a national park among zebra and giraffe, walk on Crescent Island where there are no predators, and take a boat out among the hippos at sunset. The best-value weekend in the country.
2. Nairobi National Park and Ol Donyo Sabuk — from KSh 12,500
A rhino-heavy game drive with the city skyline behind, then a summit hike up the mountain of the buffalo, finishing at the Fourteen Falls.
3. Ololua Nature Trail — from KSh 1,500
Not even overnight, and barely a budget line. Indigenous forest in Karen with a waterfall, caves and a river gorge, forty minutes from the CBD.
4. Lake Nakuru — from KSh 14,500
One night, and close to guaranteed rhino. Both black and white rhino at high density inside a fenced park, plus Rothschild's giraffe and tree-climbing lion.
5. Mount Longonot — from KSh 4,500
A day trip. Steep, hot and around four to five hours for the full crater rim, with a view down into an extinct volcano and out across the Rift.
6. Machakos and Kyamwilu — from KSh 6,000
The 'magnetic hill' where water appears to run uphill, the Machakos People's Park, and a lot of very good nyama choma. Underrated and barely an hour and a half out.
7. Sagana white water — from KSh 8,500
Grade three to five rafting on the Tana, two hours from Nairobi, with bungee and zip lines at the same camp. The best adrenaline-per-shilling in Kenya.
Want us to plan it for you?
Everything in this article is something we organise every month. Tell us your dates and we will do the rest.
