Karen, the Giraffe Centre, Karen Blixen Museum and Karura Forest

Two green sanctuaries bookend Nairobi to the south-west and north: the wooded estate suburb of Karen and Langata at the foot of the Ngong Hills, and the 1,041-hectare indigenous upland canopy of Karura Forest just north of the central avenues.

The Giraffe Centre (AFEW Kenya) in Langata

Founded in 1979 by Jock and Betty Leslie-Melville in the grounds of their Langata estate to save the endangered Rothschild's giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi), a subspecies distinguished by its creamy white "socks" below the knee and five ossicones on the head, the Giraffe Centre is operated by the African Fund for Endangered Wildlife. Climb the two-storey wooden feeding gallery to stand level with the giraffes' heads as staff hand you coconut-coated grass pellets. Because giraffe saliva is naturally antiseptic, you can feed them straight from your hand before walking the 1.5-kilometre Gogo River Bird Sanctuary nature trail directly across the road.

Karen Blixen Museum, Kazuri Beads and Matbronze

Ten minutes west along green, eucalyptus-shaded avenues lies the suburb of Karen, named after Danish author Karen Blixen (who wrote Out of Africa under the pen name Isak Dinesen). Built in 1912 and purchased by the Danish government as an independence gift to Kenya in 1964, the Karen Blixen Museum preserves her stone-and-veranda farmhouse facing the four knuckles of the Ngong Hills. Guided tours take you through the wood-panelled living rooms displaying her original furniture, cuckoo clock, Denys Finch Hatton's gramophone and books, and out onto the lawn where rusting coffee-processing tractors stand beneath tall trees.

Round out your afternoon in Karen at two remarkable craft studios:

• Kazuri Beads Factory and Pottery Centre: started in 1975 on part of the old Blixen estate to employ single mothers, where free factory tours show every step of rolling, shaping, firing, hand-painting and stringing colourful ceramic beads made from Mount Kenya soil.
• Matbronze Wildlife Art Gallery and Cafe: a tranquil garden gallery in Langata casting wildlife sculptures in solid bronze using the ancient lost-wax method, paired with one of the nicest leafy lunch terraces in the area.

Walking and cycling to the waterfall in Karura Forest

On the northern side of the city between Muthaiga, Gigiri and Westlands, Karura Forest was saved from urban development by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Professor Wangari Maathai and the Green Belt Movement. Enter via Gate A (Limuru Road) or Gate C (Kiambu Road, Sharks Gate) to walk or cycle up to 50 kilometres of peaceful dirt trails past a 15-metre waterfall, bamboo groves, lily ponds and sacred caves used as hideouts during the 1950s independence struggle, then pair your morning walk with the nearby Nairobi National Museum.