Nairobi Arboretum is 30 hectares of wooded landscape, an oasis close to the heart of the city situated about3 km from city centre and adjacent to the State House. It is one of Nairobi's few remaining green spaces with shaded walkways, picnic lawns and jogging trails.

The Arboretum was established in 1907 by Mr. Batiscombe, then Deputy Conservator of Forests, to try out introduced forestry trees for Kenya. It was gazetted as a national reserve in 1932 and in 1996 a title deed issued by Commissioner of land designating it as a public owned reserve. For more on the Arboretum history click here.

Management and facilities

The Arboretum is under the management of the Forestry Department (FD). It was managed effectively for many decades but from the 1970s until the early 1990s management levels declined due to increasingly inadequate government funding.

The Arboretum has few permanent structures. It holds over 350 species of indigenous and exotic plants. The diverse vegetation is also home to over 100 species of birds, a population of Sykes and Vervet monkeys, many butterflies and other small wildlife.

http://www.naturekenya.org/Nairobi%20Arboretum