The best single day out of Nairobi that does not involve a park gate queue. Lake Naivasha does its game viewing from the water, drifting past hippo pods and fish eagles, and then Crescent Island does something almost no other place in Kenya allows: you get out and walk, right through herds of giraffe, zebra and wildebeest, because there are no predators on the island.
Home by dinner. If you have one spare day in Nairobi between flights or meetings, this is the one we recommend first.
An early Rift Valley descent with a viewpoint stop, a morning boat ride among hippos and fish eagles, lunch by the water, then an afternoon walking safari among giraffe and zebra on Crescent Island before the drive home.