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Benson and I made our way past the tune of punctuate - out man of affairs and honking taxis and hop into our safari fomite . I dilute myluggagein the back and got my tv camera equipment ready as Benson navigated out of the airport traffic towards the park . We ’d been plug in on WhatsApp for weeks , but this was my first prison term forgather the man in person .
To back up , Nairobi ’s airport is n’t corking . The waiting area are dated , thing are spaced out , it ’s hot . Sure , you’re able to flash yourPriority Passand flow out in theloungefor a pair of hours , or perchance even have a glass of overprice vino . I spent a seven - hour layover there back in 2022 , which was mostly spent nosh on small yield cupful and swearing to myself that I ’d never put myself in such a position again . So when I found myself facing down the bbl of yet another longKenyanlayover , I decided to reach somesafari companiesto see if they ’d be receptive to a half - daytime path .
It turned out they were .
Nairobi National Park is close enough to the airport that you can visit during a long layover.|Goddard Photography/E+/Getty Images
My head was candidly blown . Game Whisperers Adventurehad apparently been offering such an itinerary since 1995 — and it was still only $ 120 . I use for a visa and prayed that it would be approve on time . Proprietor Wycliffe Odera then help me make a custom travel guidebook that could be conform if things were slimly delayed . He was the one who sent me guidance on what to impart , in part by include an imposingly direct note on my itinerary that said “ memories are worthless , acamerais a very authoritative companion . ” Anyway , he was also the one who put me in spot with Benson and had him wait for me at the drome when I go far , visa in hand . ( To gain entry into Kenya , visitors from the US need to apply for an electronic travel authorisation in advance , which they can dohere . )
Our original design was to take a city term of enlistment in Nairobi with a plosive speech sound at a giraffe sanctuary before heading to theNairobi National Parkfor thegame cause . I had already lost a footling time on my way there with a slight delay , so we adjusted and decide to just do the secret plan drive since that was the most important thing to me . We force back out of the airport , making our style past street food for thought pushcart , and arrived at the park about 45 minute later . It be $ 43 to go inside .
We now start our search for giraffes , hippos , and ostriches . But what I really wanted to see was a rhinoceros — the only so - called adult five animal I ’d yet to glimpse in the natural state . As we began the game drive , I expressed this to Benson , who assured me that he would do his absolute best , though we both knew that no one can warrant an animal encounter . We would need luck — in a limited windowpane of clock time .
The author spotted a dazzle of Zebras on her layover safari.|Photo by Jessica Kelly
Some sightings come right aside . As we pulled up quietly to a small watering golf hole , we find a pod of hippos insolate themselves on the shore , with two in the urine wiggle their ears and yawning , showing off their sharp , 20 - inch canid . We moved on from watching the hippos but were soon stopped in our tracks by a dazzle of zebras right in the middle of the road . We quietly watched them interact , and not even five minutes afterward we got so close to an ostrich that we could see each little hazy hair on its head . Twenty instant after that , we catch a giraffe spread its legs into a half - rip to get a drink of water .
By almost any reasonable measuring rod , we had an unbelievable twenty-four hours in the park . But as we began progress to our room back to the passing — and the aerodrome — I could n’t help but palpate a tiny bit of disappointment . And I think it was something Benson plunk up on , too , because he set out refreshen my retention about everything we saw . abruptly he stop mid - sentence and start pointing toward a serial of boulders that looked unremarkable to me . He pulled our safari fomite around so I could see from a different angle .
Benson continued pointing at the boulders , and suddenly a motor horn popped up behind one of them . It turn out that we were looking at a whole crash of rhinos , including a babe , which was nuzzle up to its mother . It fend up , apparently alarmed , but flopped on the earth for a nap after realise we were n’t coming any closer . Meanwhile , three adult rhino huddled around an jejune , apparently protect him . We were a bare 30 feet away .
Decals at Jommo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi hint at what’s on offer just 45 minutes away.|Simon Maina/AFP/Getty Images
I was in shock the entire trip back to the airport . Meanwhile , Benson seemed genuinely happy , smile ear - to - pinna and recapping the instant he noticed the rhinos behind the rock . As it turned out , I could n’t have asked for a better template — or a safe way to pass seven hours . Not only had I seen rhinos in real life , I saw them on my stopover .
