I visited City Park, located in the heart of Nairobi over the weekend during one of their monthly-guided walks. This park is like none that I have ever visited before. It holds a great amount of history and gives you an idea of what Nairobi once was. When entering the park, it is a little hard to get through, as there is markets set up heading towards the park, but once in you get a sense of all the different species that call this park home.

City Park has a lot of biodiversity, from monkeys to the smallest of insects that help make this place everything it is. I first visited the pollinator garden, which is very well maintained. It has many seedlings growing there, which are then transferred to other places within the park or taken someplace else to grow. Within the pollinator garden you see various species of butterflies and insects.

Next, the tour guide took us through the park on the main trail. While walking, I noticed all the different types of trees grown in the Park and most of the trees were older. The walk through City Park is very calming as you can hear all the birds singing. On the trail, I came across a tree that was very interesting; it was like a vine but very strong and could be used for swinging. The park also has a cemetery from many years ago that adds great historical significance to this park.

Lastly, we came to the bandstand area. This area is mostly used for families to come have picnics, play some outdoor games and have a great time. Overall my walk through the Park was a great morning spent, I learned a lot of new things and got a sense of the actual city under the sun. I encourage everyone to come out to the walks that are held at this lovely park on Saturdays, the dates are available on the website.

-By Tanvi Shah, Graduate from University of South Carolina in Environmental Science