Attractions in Kiambu County
Riara Ridge
The geological curisoty around Kiambu Town is often conceled in Thick red soils. The underlying tuffs and trachyte are represented by marked changes in slope The significant lave plains outlying the Nairobi City are the Athi plains and the northern section of the Kapiti plains with an elevation difference of above 400 metres from Athi River to the foothills of Ngong. The plains are relatively flat through the Niarobi National Park, City Centre, JKIA and Dandora areas, although the area slopes gently eastwards. The topographical feature in Kabete and Westlands area have pronounced ridges generally sloping eastwards towards the city and rising gently towards the eastern margin of the Rift Valley. The terrain around Kabete is a display of an abrupt beginning and ending of many unconnected valley depressions which indicate that the drainage is parallel and consequent on the south-east sloping surface. Steep scarpd get noticeable as you through Kiambu County westerly. Faulting in connexion with the formation of the Gregory Rift VaHey has dissected the terrain and is responsible for some spectacular scenery. In the extreme south-western part of the area intense faulting has produced many platforms aIong the eastern wall of the Rift Valley. This part of the Kijabe region is deeply dissected by numerous streams, a feature that is most pronounced in the Kiambu district. where scarcely a single ridge is wider than half a mile. with risers incised several hundreds of feet. In that part of the Kiamhtt district which falls within the. .Kijabe area. consequent streams are closely spaced, contrasting slightly with the Fort Hall and Nyeri district. The Kiambu Trachyte is exposed in the vicinityof Kiambu township where it crops out in the valleys ofthe Riara and Gatharaini rivers and underlies the coffee estates of Fairviewand Kiu,south-east of Kiambu. Here a tongue of the lava extends eastwards to within a mile (1.6 km) of the Kamiti road. It is this dovetail of lavas and higher elevation of Riara Ridge that give vatange point over Nairobi
13. Kawamwaki Farm
Outfitted as both an equestrian retreat and a thriving organic farm, Kawamwaki Farm is inviting for day-trips. Unique to this farm is that its organic farming is not sold short. No chemicals and fertilizers are used. In preference, only natural herbs and flowers, compost manure and waste are used utilizing key principles of organic farming. The results of this painstaking process, done lovingly, speak for themselves. It has a diversity of interesting plants, tree nurseries and some beautiful sections that have been rehabilitated to their indigenous state. Away from farming, their guests get to enjoy romantic horse rides accompanied by a groom through the tea farms, along the river and dam, and to some jim-dandy vantage points. From here, the distant city-line of Nairobi appears so dignified and peaceful, even perhaps glorious. Kawamwaki Farm is located 28 kms from Nairobi about 3 kms past Kentmere Club and nearby the Maramba Tea Factory.
Naishola Gardens
Naishola Gardens at Gathini Farm
16. Redhill Campsite
A campsite is available on the stretch of the road overlooking the Ngecha Valley near Redhill. It is approached 27 kms from Nairobi along Limuru Road turning off near Bustani Gardens and The Dam Redhill Resort. The area is beautiful and peaceful with access to a lovely woody and a river where guests can explore the country. Facilities include: Toilets, showers and a restaurant. Tents, mattresses, sleeping bags, camp chairs, bikes, fishing lines, bait and boats are available for hire. To get the latest pricing and condition of the camping ground parties can get in touch redhillcamp@gmail.com. Persons wishing to use the camping site using their own equipment are required to use the aforementioned contact for payment inquiry. Campers must be suitably clothed for the highlands. Warm clothing and a chage of it, scarfs and mittens (for the night) are necessary. From Limuru Road the Redhill Camp is about 2.6 kms along a good all-weather road.
17. Mlango Farm
Away from all the formalistic ready food and posh table settings, Mlango Farm is a great encounter into the practice of producing everyday food. Here, milking cows ceases to be dicey and getting hands dirty is more than welcome. Children also entertain themselves plenty at the farm, enjoying the spaces and delighting in nature having good old fun like climbing trees, feeding animals, playing hide and seek, building dams in the water, baking bread at the campfire, and so on. To put in a nutshell, Mlango Farm is a pure and unadulterated simple farm-life. It’s found along Limuru Road betwixt the Redhill Campsite and PCEA Thingati.
18. The Dam Redhill Resort
Also a relatively new addition to Kiambu’s chain of outdoor offerings, The Dam Redhill Resort in one of the most popular in the county; it contains a vast track of unspoiled land and a capacious dam; and it has a floating restaurant too. It is also famous for an array of exciting outdoor activities like ziplining, biking and a kids park, more of these being centered in the dam like boating, jet-skiing and sports fishing. The site gets its name from the Redhill Dam. It is this man-made dam which offers the major attraction to the visitor, with its wooded fringes of mature trees forming canopies of deep shade. “The Dam RedHill is a getaway resort that is ideal for weekends. Located only 25 kilometers from Nairobi with breathtaking countryside views with utmost serenity that will make you want to comeback again” – Hangout. It is located 25 kms from Nairobi along Limuru Road shortly before reaching the Sovereign Suites Nairobi. It’s well sign-posted.
19. Red Hill Art Gallery
Red Hill Art Gallery provides support and a platform to encourage local creative talent and African Art. It expositions a cross-section of high-quality latter-day and contemporary African art which include paintings and sculptures. It also hosts regular displays that aim to play-up upcoming artists. Unique to Red Hill Art Gallery is its bright and lively indoors harmonized with a verdant landscape. “It offers a superb and wholly appropriate space devoted to passion for African Art. The gallery owns a large collection, amassed over a period of 25 years by the owners, that amounts to a very astutely selected cross-section of the finest modern and contemporary African artwork, including paintings and sculptures. This collection provides the foundation of the exhibition programme. What’s more, the gallery presents several shows yearly dedicated to individual artists”.
20. Banana Farmhouse
Equally impressive among the farms and farmhouses in Kiambu County is the Banana Farmhouse, which is a great hideaway to escape the pressures of urban Nairobi. The 1940’s revamped farmhouse is the feather in the cap, with fetching nuances of the wistful old colonial builds, mature garden with towering ancient trees and a trim interior embellished with a subtle avant-garde design scheme. Then, there’s their contiguous 24-acres farmland with a pond, flower beds and livestock that flows down to meet the indigenous forest patch, downhill to the river. Banana Farmhouse borders the Ruaka River. Quite therapeutic, a stroll through the farm trying to befriend the animals, most notably of its cows that are rather well acquainted with humans and sometimes seem oblivious of their presence, is a rare treat often sold short. After spending valuable time walking around the farm, guests can relax in the sun-awning poop deck with wonderful views of the pleasurable Ngong Hills. It has a pretty pool too. Other interests within easy reach are Kentmere Club, Brown’s Cheese and Kiambethu Farm. At the moment, it is only accessible to boarding visitors. It is located 20 kms from Nairobi (Westlands) along Limuru Road nearby the Karura Community Chapel.
Munje Farm
Sometimes known as Limuru Gardens, owing to its close proximity to Limuru Town, Munje Gardens is widely known as an events venue largely catering to weddings, corporate events and team building. When there is a breathing spell between events, these gardens are perfect for some quietude in nature. Set on a 20-acres tea farm overlooking yet more tea farmlands in Limuru, it lacks little in beauty. It is located in Nyathuguna Village, about 2 kms from Limuru Town.
21. Banana Hill Gallery
This is found 10 kms from Red Hill Art Gallery via Limuru Road and Ndenderu-Banana Links Road. Founded by Rahab and Shine Tani in 1995 to support art and artists in Kenya, Banana Hill Studio now hosts artwork from over 70 artists from all over Africa, with 20+ priced pieces. It exhibits some of Kenya’s most beautiful paintings and sculptures – with a big emphasis on African art. “Since inception, Banana Hill has opened its doors to East African Art, foremost by exhibiting art from neighbours Tanzania and Uganda. This increased the fame of the Gallery among artists’ circles in the region, and soon other East African artists found their way to the Gallery. In 2011 we increased our geographical scope by organizing an exhibition by Kofi Agoso from Ghana, West Africa” – Banana Hill Gallery. The Banana Hill Studio is open daily from 10:00 am-6:00 pm and Sunday from noon. It also operates an online store. A trip here is easily combined with a visit to Red Hill Art Gallery, Brown’s Cheese and All Saint Limuru. Banana Hill Gallery is set 23 kms from Nairobi via Banana Raini Road.
22. Kentmere Club
One of the easy escapes from Nairobi City is to take a joyride up to the coffee and tea plantations at Tigoni and Limuru. A much prized drive that is rarely taken. Formerly a white highland, the area around Limuru especially at Tigoni has kept hold of its old-world charm in the quaint buildings and the farmlands plied by tea and coffee. Better still, on a drive taking to this area, is drop in at one of sundry farms and farmhouses which admit both day-trip and overnight guests. Lunch or dinner at Kentmere Club on the way back could round off a perfect day. Founded in the 1920s, as the quintessential old English clubhouse popularized by upper-middle-class settlers in Kenya, it exudes both in decorum and architecture a canny far-reaching history and refinery of the prominent clubs linked with the British Empire. It is found 24 kms from Nairobi in Tigoni.
23. Goldenscape Tree Africa
Established in 2004, as a small tree nursery aiming to educate farmer on how to invest in four chief areas of timber investment, fruits investments, greenhouses and bamboo tillage, Goldenscape Tree Africa has gone a long eco-probity way to mobilize the citizenry concerns into positive actions, to protect and enhance the ecosystems for generations. Trippers to Goldenscape Tree Africa get a chance to be involved in tree planting and regeneration of the environment, excursions in the forests, touring the nurseries, touring their greenhouses and plant market. It is located 17 kms from Nairobi at Lower Kabete area, near Nairobi University.
24. Watson Scott Memorial Church
The tiny Watson Scott Memorial Church, which was pre-fabricated in Scotland before been shipped into Kenya in 1909, holds a history of great import of the rise and spread of Christianity in ‘Kikuyuland’. Listed as a National Monument, this pocket-sized Church that was the first official PCEA Church in Kenya also commemorates the life and times of Mrs. Minnie Watson, a Scottish missioner who diligently served in Kikuyu for more than thirty years before retiring to Dundee, Scotland, where she died in 1949. During her 30 years in Kikuyu, she founded a list of schools for girls and boys. One of her pupils, Jomo Kenyatta, went on to become Kenya’s foremost president. It is located in Thogoto, Kikuyu.
25. Church of the Torch
By 1921, missionary work started in 1898 by Thomas and Minnie Watson had grown by leaps and bounds, and the tiny Watson Scott Memorial Church just alluded to had been outgrown. In 1929, Mrs. Watson laid the foundation brick for the Church of the Torch, also known as PCEA Thogoto, that was completed in 1933. In 2008, it was gazetted as a National Monument: “May this Church of the Torch continue to be a beacon of light and hope, even in our darkest times.” Its august neo-gothic design was modeled from the Presbyterian Cathedral in Blantyre, Scotland. Also located nearby are the Thomas and Minnie Memorials.
26. Fort Smith
“Welcome……This way for High Tea”, reads a high-sounding pediment which still hangs at the entrance of Fort Smith. Surprisingly undocumented, the olden and unassuming Fort Smith is an outstanding historic building which marks an important milepost in the history of Kenya. Built in 1888, ten years before the arrival of the famous lunatic line in Nairobi, it was an importunate symbol that the colonial enterprise in Kenya was now in high gear. Later, Fort Smith gained unwelcome notoriety as the site where freedom-fighter Waiyaki wa Hinga was tried and hastily sentenced to exile. Sadly, this landmark is now on a path to its crumble. It is located 15 kms from Nairobi, at Ndumbu-ini Village, near Kikuyu.
The history of modern Kenya starts with the railway. Sir Charles Eliot, the commissioner of British East Africa who presided over its construction, proclaimed after the task was completed that: “It is not uncommon for a country to create a railway, but it is uncommon for a railway to create a country.” – Excerpt from the 1843 Magazine, August 2016
27. Ondiri Swamp
The papyrus fringed Ondiri Swamp, “a misnomer because it is not a swamp per se but what is known as a peat bog, and Kenya’s largest highland bog”, is found just 1 km from Kikuyu Town. Despite its unpopularity it was at one time the only source of water supply for Nairobi City. It possesses very unique oddities. Covering about 30-hectares, and the only known quaking bog (a spongy and shaky ground with no foundation) in Kenya, it is foremost a major inlet for Nairobi River and joins other minor streams rising from Kikuyu Escarpment to drain into Athi-Sabaki-Galana River – one of the two major rivers alongside Tana River terminating at Indian Ocean. As with many things swamps, Ondiri is thought to draw much of its water from underground seepages, which explains why it retains reasonable amounts of water even the dryer periods of the year, with little infiltration loss. It is also thought to have a dumbfounding depth of 10 kms. The second deepest wetland zone inside Africa following one in Doula Cameroon. Furthermore, this artless swamp functions as an underground outlet for Lake Naivasha. The Lari-Ondiri fault West of the Kikuyu Railway station is the only source of groundwater which leaves the area towards the eastern zone Ondigi Swamp is a popular leisure oasis and its callers particularly like to hop on the bogs. The little-known Nyakumu Swamp is located 20 kms from Ondiri Swamp.
28. Sigona Golf Club
Designed and constructed by Berkley-Mathews starting 1939, the sightly Sigona Golf Club with the pleasing austerity of its wooded surroundings is an 18-holes course which offers a formidable yet rewarding round of golf. Its toughest hole, number 7, that measures 465 yards for men played to a par 4, is a much-talked about challenge in the golfing circles. Sigona Golf Club, situated on a 250-acres prinked piece of land, is among the most prestigious golfing courses in Kenya. In addition, Sigona Golf Suites offer decorous accommodation for business and leisure travellers. It’s located 20 kms from Nairobi along Nairobi-Nakuru Road.
29. Wadi Degla Club
The high-end leisure and multi-sport Wadi Degla Club is Kenya’s premier full scale and privately-owned sports club focusing on wellness for both families and professional athletes. Wadi Degla Club also has two other members-only academies, at Migaa and at Karen. Its highlights include: its squash and tennis courts; its soccer fields; a multi-purpose court; its training pool; a jogging track; a walking track; and four talent academies – Arsenal soccer, Darwish squash, Wadi Degla tennis and Swim America. It is found along Runda Drive, near U.N.
30. Windsor Golf Club
Ranked as one of “Africa’s Best Golf Resorts” by Business Daily and among the “11 of the world’s top city golf clubs” by CNN, the Victorian styled Windsor Golf Club lacks nothing in beauty and luxury. “What makes the course unique is the fact that it’s carved out of a tropical rainforest,” explains avid local golfer Mike Macharia – CNN. Aside from its fine 18-holes championship golf course, there’s also tennis, squash, cycling and petanque. Accommodation is provided in 130 tastefully-furnished rooms spread across acres of beautiful gardens from where guests can enjoy 4 restaurants, 3 bars, a club house, business centre, gym and spa, scenic jogging track that winds through a tropical forest and a heated pool. It is found 14 kms north of Nairobi in Ridgeways, via Kiambu and Kigwa Roads.
31. Paradise Lost
This wondrous 54-acres farm situated right in the middle of a native coffee farm is scenically attractive. It oozes such beauty that its name “Paradise Lost” aptly describes both the landscape and its experience. Reposeful riverine walks along Gichi River to the caves eroded by the river with their entrance screened by the impressive Paradise Lost Falls, miles on miles of undisturbed trails for biking, camel and horse rides, in good shape picnic and rest areas, and patches of thick forest looking out to the coffee farms and beyond. All offer a lively adventure for all ages and a rewarding and invigorating day-outing. Other activities include fishing, boating on one of the largest man-made lake in Kiambu, birding and coffee farm tours. A modest cover fee is charged to access it (adults-400 and children-300) towards its maintenance and development. It is located 14 kms north of Nairobi along Kiambu Road with some road signage to guide you there.
32. Fairview Coffee Estate
It’s no secret that Kiambu County is a weighty producer of premium coffee in Kenya, and specifically “Arabica” coffee. At the Fairview Coffee Estate, trippers can experience some of the best coffee and learn from coffee masters. Fairview Gardens was to begin with designed as a romantic getaway for its octogenarian owner and his sweetheart who have produced some of the world’s finest coffees for over four decades. And now this hidden treasure has been opened up to the public to enjoy its beautifully manicured gardens during significant occasions. Started in 1909, the 100-acres Fairview Coffee Estate has accumulated a rich history of coffee farming and visits to Fairview begin with a tour of their farm holding upwards of 80,000 coffee trees; and then to its factory, with the piece-de-resistance of the tour being the testing and tasting their premium coffees’. Other highlights include the pretty and kept mature garden with a centerpiece man-made dam and the close by Riara Falls. Morning tours take place between 10 am-12 pm and afternoon tours between 2 pm-4pm. Both take on average 40 minutes. It’s set 15 kms from Nairobi via Kiambu Road, past Muthithi Gardens.
33. Kiambu Golf Club
Kiambu Golf Club was begun in 1916 with only 3 holes. In 1959 it was extended to 9 holes with the effort of Mr. E. B. Horne and the local villagers. It was later brought up to date with the browns converted into greens and with ace calibre of a nine-holes layout. The course’s length is 6858 yards with a par 72. Owing to proximity to Nairobi, the club has an open policy for non-members who wish to play on their greens and also hosts a number of popular tournaments to foster the sport. Kiambu Golf Club is set 15km from Nairobi on your way to Kiambu Town and a 100 m from Kiambu Police Station along the road to Kirigiti Centre.
34. Kiambu (St.Paul) Churchyard Memorial
Kiambu Town is about 16 kms from Nairobi via Kiambu Road. St Paul’s Church is close to the Kiambu Institute of Science and Technology, and can be reached about 300 metres along the turn off to the right, signposted to Ruiru. The single private memorial to the Earl of Erroll is close to the hedge on the left hand side of the churchyard, under a Frangipani tree. Shortly after Kiambu Institute of Technology, downhill past the riverbend, take the earth feeder road on the right hand side and drive approximately 100 metres. The church gate is situated on the right hand side and on entry the graves will be found on the left hand side of the church. There are a number of civilian graves in rows. The Commonwealth war grave is in the second row and second from the hedge of the church. It is not marked by a Commission headstone, but by a permanent private memorial.
35. Evergreen Park
The simplistic but delightful Evergreen Park, centered around their man-made dam, is a budget and family-friendly public outdoor park. If you’d rather relax than join in with the fun-play, there are plenty of sitting areas set around the park. The highlights at Evergreen Park is fishing or boating at the lake, which is the center piece. It is especially ideal for simple budget group picnics. Callers to this laid back and relaxing park would also be interested in visiting the nearby Royal Gardenia Ground. Evergreen is located about 20 kms north of Nairobi City, along Nairobi to Kiambu Road and close to the Northern Bypass overpass.
36. Northlands City
Envisioned to be the largest private development in Kiambu County, the Shs. 500 Billion mega Northlands City – under the docket of the influential Kenyatta Family – is a large scale residential and commercial development on the prime 11,000-acres Juja Farm. At the moment, this farm is home to Brookside Dairies and Gicheha Farm. When complete, Northlands City will be a self-reliant mini-city that offers plenty to investors, shoppers, businesses, tourists, and families.
37. Ruiru Sports Club
“Ruiru Sports Club started as a tennis club back in 1922. The club was moved to the present site in 1923 where land was available for a golf course. This was laid out by Mr. Overtone who was a Colonial Police Inspector at Ruiru. The course was re-constructed on an improved layout by club members in 1930 using large gangs of African Labourers and reconstructed the tees and browns. The pioneer golf captain was Mr. G.J. Glassford in 1930. Mr. John Ross took over as golf captain for the next twenty consecutive years, between 1931 to 1950. The club had 30 golfing members with reciprocal arrangements with Thika, Makuyu, Nyeri, Nanyuki and Eldoret. The first stone clubhouse was built in 1924. Since then it has been enlarged on a few occasions. The sport bar was presented to the club by Mr. B. Kopperud. Ruiru Sports Club has an open policy for day-golfers and temporary membership with a modest cover charge for playing the greens. Other facilities: bowling greens, tennis court and club house. It is located 32.5 kms from Nairobi CBD vial A2 Nairobi-Nanyuki-Moyale Road, near GSU Camp.
38. JKUAT Botanical Gardens
Begun in 2014, these gardens are truly something to behold. They hold varied several floral clusters nurtured in their unique habitats, to include: the African indigenous plants site; the medicinal plant garden; the rare and unique plant garden; the orchard – with wild edible fruits; the bamboo garden; the Asian and exotic plants garden; and the aquatic plant garden with a particular observation deck. The JKUAT Botanical Gardens, within the precinct of JKUAT University, were a collaborative project between JKUAT Uni and Wuhan Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Science. It is expected that in about ten years time JKUAT Botanical Gardens will be a replica of the Wuhan Botanical Garden that span 40-acres. It’s located 34 kms from Nairobi at Juja via Nairobi-Nyeri Road.
39. Juja House
Erected in 1902 as a hunting lodge for the distinguished settler farmer William Northrup Macmillan, who arrived in Kenya in 1901 for big-game hunting, Juja House is an antique of the rapturous and epochal era of big-game hunting. The spiels of William N. Macmillian in Kenya precedes him and this house is part of his intriguing legacy. This house got international fame when Queen Elizabeth II (then Princess Elizabeth) spent a night here on her way to Nyeri. While Juja House is expansive, by any standards, it is a pale shadow compared to the 34-rooms Macmillian Castle near Ol Donyo Sabuk National Park where Northrup resettled later. Juja House is located 31 kms from Nairobi City near JKUAT Uni.
40. Mount Kilimambogo
Easily sighted from most areas along the eastern quarter of Kiambu County and prominently at Juja and Thika, the 2,034 ms high dome-shaped bulk of Mount Kilimambogo located in Kyanzavi area is one of the noteworthy landmarks in Machakos County. Also known as the Ol Donyo Sabuk, which loosely translates as “big mountain” in the Maasai dialect, this wooded mountain has spectacular scenes. Its present-day name was contrived from the menacing group of buffalo (Mbogo in the native Kikuyu) that used the forest as a refuge, grazing outside it after dark. The 21 km2 Ol Donyo Sabuk National Park comprises the forested top of this hill. It is more scenic than faunal and makes for a pleasant goal for a weekend hiking adventure. Other interests nearby Mount Kilimambogo include the popular Fourteen Falls and Lord Macmillan Castle both within easy walking distance. Then, there are Sabuk Guest House, Summit Rock and Turacco Camp Site, and Ol Donyo Sabuk Lodge. It is located 96 kms northeast of Nairobi, via A2 Nairobi-Nyeri Road to Thika, turning into A3 Thika-Garissa Road to Sabuk.
41. The Rain Hotel
Put down on 12-acres along Kenyatta Road in Gatundu, Rain Hotel has the very best of this rural country. In fact, it was founded with a goal of offering an easy-going wellness retreat for travellers to appreciate these therapeutic backwoods. Unique to Rain Hotel is their wide gazebo that is encircled by a man-made lake looking out to the playground and verdant landscape. To push the experience a notch up, Rain Hotel guarantees its guests an organic African styled fresh-food cuisine experience. While marking time, guests can soak up the zen-like scenes here with river walks, pretty gardens, or cycling around the trails. Quiet is what its all about here, in an unpretentious, low-key and friendly space. It has a state of the art sport centre too. It is located along Kenyatta Road off A2 Thika Road.
42. Karunguru Coffee and Golf Estate
It takes a lot of efficacy to produce world class coffee and engendering premium coffee requires enormous efforts in quality control and years of investment. It is no mean feat to claim the title of ‘producer of world’s best coffee’ and especially in Kenya which is ranked as the second biggest producer of premium coffee in Africa after Ethiopia. So when Karunguru Coffee and Golf Estate claim a stake in this grandiloquent-sounding title, their experience is a guaranteed success. Dealing 100% in Arabica Coffee on a 300-acres estate in Juja, Karunguru Farm has been continually farming coffee since 1928, as one of the largest and earliest coffee farms in Kenya. Coffee was introduced to Kenya in 1893. Much to the joy of coffee-lovers who call on it, tours around the farm are done on vehicle across the farm, which has exceptional vistas. From here, the journey takes to its trim colonial-themed main house for lunch and coffee-tasting. Tours are open from Tuesday through to Saturday, from 11 am to 4 pm. Advance booking is required. It is located 37 kms from Nairobi, along Kenyatta Road (Exit 14 on Thika Road).
43. Ndakaini Dam
Granted that Ndakaini Dam sits just over the border in Muranga County, it is associated more with Kiambu and is also known as Thika Dam. Commissioned in 1998 with a catchment area of 75 km2, it’s best-known for supplying 85% of the residents in Nairobi with water. For tourism, Ndakaini Dam is still largely an underrated beauty. Located about 81 kms northwest of Nairobi and 41 kms west of Thika Town via Thika-Gatura Road to Gatanga-Ndakini Road, Ndakaini Dam offers beyond-money serenity and solitude. At the same time, it’s poignant to reflect that this prepossessing dam set amidst a pleasing natural forest within the tranquil and bucolic village of Gatanga is a man-made site. There is also the Muchiri’s Retreat for trippers looking to stay a night or two near Ndakaini Dam.
44. Chania Falls
Chania Falls in Thika, easily sighted just east of the Blue Post Hotel near Thika, also roughly marks the confluence of Rivers Chania and Thika; both originating from the Aberdare Reserve. Views of Chania Falls are best enjoyed at the long-standing Blue Post Hotel that sits on a prominence directly facing it from above. Started in 1908 as a stopover for white settlers who lived and farmed in Central and Eastern Kenya, Blue Post Hotel is of itself a grandee destination of Kiambu.
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47. Mugumo Gardens
This sought-after outdoor park at the very heart of Thika Town offers a place of solitude to rest, unbend and unwind. Rather more interestingly, is the history of the towering Mugumo (fig) tree in the middle of the park, after which the park is named. As it goes goes, the Mau Mau paid homage to this old Mugumo Tree and often performed traditional oaths and rituals there. At one point, the local colonial government fenced it off to deter the Mau Mau from convening at the Mugumo Gardens, without much success. Myth or not, the tree was held with a very high value hitherto. Mugumo Gardens is found at the heart of Thika Town.
48. Thika War Cemetery
The Thika War Cemetery contains 128 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War; four of which are unidentified plus two non-war burials. This park, found along the General Kago Road, is a moving landmark commemorating the dauntless and lion-hearted soldiers who paid the ultimate price. The somber Thika War Cemetery offers a historic connection to the past and is a formidable location to ponder on the intrinsic values of life. It’s located within Thika Town.
49. Fourteen Falls
Especially worth a visit soon after the rain season, when River Athi fills up its fourteen separate falls, this is one of the most astounding waterfalls sighted in Kenya. Fourteen Falls also marks the boundary with Machakos County. While majority of adventure-makers to Fourteen Falls go to enjoy the stunning sight, a select band of adrenaline junkies opt for the thrilling 40 ft high dives. Fourteen Falls is located approximately 70 kms northeast of Nairobi using Thika-Garissa Road until Sabuk and about 2 kms from the Ol Donyo Sabuk Nat. Park turnoff.
Geography of Kiambu County
Kiambu County is split into four broad topographical zones – Upper Highland, Lower Highland, Upper Midland and Lower Midland Zone. The higher Upper Highland Zone is found in Lari, and it is an extension of Aberdare ranges. It is dominated by highly dissected ranges and it is very wet, steep and important as a water catchment area. The lower highland zone is mostly found near Limuru and some parts of Gatundu North, Gatundu South, Githunguri and Kabete. The area is typified by hills, plateaus, and high-elevation plains. It is generally a tea and dairy zone, though some activities like maize, horticultural crops and sheep farming are also practiced. The lower midland is much drier and heavily settled.
Land Use in Kiambu County
Kiambu County is principally an agricultural region. The small land holdings are mostly found in upper parts of Gatundu North, Gatundu South, Kiambaa, Limuru and Kikuyu. The fragmentation of the land has made it uneconomical and majority of the farmers are converting their farms into residential plots to supplement income from the farms. The large land holdings are found in the lower parts of Kiambu County especially in Juja, Ruiru, Thika, Limuru and Lari.
Highlights in Kiambu County
Kiambu County does not have national parks or game reserves. It has, however, have many touring attractions, some that are still are unexploited. These sites include Kinale Forest, Kereita, Chania Falls and Fourteen Falls, Paradise Lost, Mugumo Gardens, Mau Mau Caves, Gatamaiyu Fish Camp and historical sites.
Population in Kiambu County
Kabete Constituency has the highest population density at 2,534 people/km2, while the least densely populated constituency is Lari, with 307 perople/km2 – mainly due to the fact that a considerable part of the area is covered by forests. The high population density and growth has exerted pressure on the available land, leading to subdivision of land into uneconomical units. According to the 2009 Kenya Population and Housing Census, Kiambu County had a population of 1,766,058 – expected to reach close to 2,032,464 people by the end of 2017.
Airports in Kiambu County
There are no airports or airstrips around Kiambu County; but it is within close proximity to JKIA International Airport and Wilson Airport in Nairobi County.
Roads in Kiambu County
Kiambu County has a good road network. It has a total of 2,033.8 kms of roads under bitumen, 1,480.2 kms under gravel, and 430.1 kms under earth surface.
Climate in Kiambu County
The mean temperature in Kiambu County is 26 C – with temperatures ranging from 7 C in the upper highlands areas of Limuru and some parts of Gatundu North, Gatundu South, Githunguri and Kabete constituencies, to 34 C in the lower midland regions around Thika. January to March are the hottest months.
National Monuments in Kiambu County
- ACK Kimabu Church
- Italian Church
Kiambu County Map
Abiri Kenya 