Destination Overview
One of the very few forests in the world that is located inside a city is the Ngong Road Forest Sanctuary. The Ngong Road Forest, which lies six kilometers from Nairobi's downtown, is a valuable resource for the nation's capital. The 1224-hectare Ngong Road Forest contains the seasoned rivers Mutuini and Ruara. In the past, the forest stretched from Nairobi National Park to Ngong Hills in a wide, uninterrupted area.
The woodland has been divided into five portions as a result of the construction of the southern bypass. Between the grasslands to the east and south and the cultivated fields to the north and west, Ngong Road Forest is in a special location.
The Nairobi soil is not very deep and the rainfall is not particularly high, therefore trees don't grow as big as they would in a tropical forest even though the forest is neither highland nor lowland but rather in between.
Despite this, the forest is accessible because there is little undergrowth and is home to a wide variety of tree and bird species. For a good number of years, a couple of African Crowned Eagles has nested and bred in the forest, in the same tree and nest. Other species in the forest include duikers, bushbucks, and olive baboons. Suni, the smallest antelope, can be spotted nibbling on the undergrowth.
The Ngong Forest Sanctuary is home to a variety of birds, including those with features of Nairobi's native dry evergreen forest, birds of the surrounding grasslands and gardens, and water birds.
