Notes from the grid.

Shorter pieces about one square mile: what has been knocked down, what is still standing, when the trees flower, and how a city of four million organises its transport with no printed timetable at all.

SeasonsSep 2026 Cloud over the centre, most afternoons Afternoon cloud over the centre decides when the KICC deck and the skyline are worth attempting. This page settles what the pattern is, and what it cannot promise. Read the post SeasonsSep 2026 Cold mornings on the equator Nairobi sits almost exactly on the equator, yet the height changes how a day feels from cold dawn to midday burn. Here is how the year divides by weather. Read the post SeasonsSep 2026 Jacaranda on the avenue For a few weeks either side of the short rains the central reservation turns purple. Roughly when, and which streets do it best. Read the post

Everything Seasons The grid Architecture History Getting around Eating

Seasons Sep 2026 · 9 min Cloud over the centre, most afternoons Afternoon cloud over the centre decides when the KICC deck and the skyline are worth attempting. This page settles what the pattern is, and what it cannot promise. Read the post Seasons Sep 2026 · 10 min Cold mornings on the equator Nairobi sits almost exactly on the equator, yet the height changes how a day feels from cold dawn to midday burn. Here is how the year divides by weather. Read the post Seasons Sep 2026 · 9 min Jacaranda on the avenue For a few weeks either side of the short rains the central reservation turns purple. Roughly when, and which streets do it best. Read the post The grid Sep 2026 · 6 min Six in the morning on Kenyatta Avenue The hour the centre belongs to sweepers, newspaper vendors and the first matatu shift, and the best light of the day on the towers. Read the post Seasons Sep 2026 · 10 min The long rains, and what they do to the grid Two rainy seasons cross the CBD unevenly, and hard pavement, matatu stages and open markets change with them. Here is what to change about a day when the rain arrives. Read the post Architecture Sep 2026 · 9 min The market halls that are still standing City Market, the deco frontages of Biashara Street and what has gone up in place of the rest. Read the post Seasons Sep 2026 · 9 min Why the centre empties at the weekend Nairobi's centre runs on a working week, so the district empties at the weekend. Here is how that shape affects a two night stay. Read the post Architecture Aug 2026 · 10 min An afternoon in the Archives The Murumbi collection, floor to ceiling, in a former banking hall on the busiest street in the country. Read the post History Aug 2026 · 11 min Freedom Corner, and what was won there The north end of Uhuru Park carries a protest history, from the 1989 campaign that stopped a tower on the park to the 1992 hunger strike. This page sets out the published record. Read the post History Aug 2026 · 11 min From Delamere to Kenyatta Kenyatta Avenue has carried three names and three different purposes. This page follows the street through each of them. Read the post History Aug 2026 · 11 min The morning that changed Haile Selassie Avenue Haile Selassie Avenue holds the 1998 embassy bombing site, now the August 7th Memorial Park. Here is what stands there today, and what the record will not fix. Read the post History Aug 2026 · 10 min The street that carries Tom Mboya's name Moi Avenue and Tom Mboya Street carry more pedestrians than anywhere else in the country. This page explains the naming of the street that honours a man shot in 1969. Read the post History Aug 2026 · 10 min The township that drew these streets The colonial township laid the grid and zoned it, and that street pattern still decides what each quarter of the CBD became. See which parts of the story the record cannot date. Read the post The grid Aug 2026 · 8 min Why the offices are leaving Upper Hill and Westlands have taken two decades of the CBD’s office tenants. What that has left behind in the grid, and what has moved in. Read the post History Jul 2026 · 11 min 1899, and why the railway stopped here Nairobi exists because the Uganda Railway stopped on this swampy flat in 1899. The depot that became the capital, and the grid it drew. Read the post Architecture Jul 2026 · 12 min A cathedral under a tower The basilica faces City Square directly under the conference centre tower. This page settles what the pairing means and what you can actually see. Read the post Architecture Jul 2026 · 11 min Inside a banking hall from the 1950s Kenyatta Avenue's mid-century banking halls still work as banks. See what the public hall shows, and what it keeps out of sight. Read the post Getting around Jul 2026 · 10 min Reading the stages Every matatu route out of the centre starts at a stage with no sign on it. How the system is legible anyway, once you know where to stand. Read the post Architecture Jul 2026 · 11 min The library with the marble lions Marble lions guard a 1931 library on Banda Street, and a restoration has run in phases. The opening arrangement is a thing to check rather than to print. Read the post Architecture Jul 2026 · 10 min The towers that changed the skyline The skyline is now made on the ridge rather than in the grid. This page settles which towers define Nairobi from below and from the park. Read the post Architecture Jun 2026 · 11 min Concrete, and the decade that built it City Square and the KICC form a civic block planned as a set piece. This page walks the state architecture of the 1960s and 1970s, building by building. Read the post Eating Jun 2026 · 11 min Eating when the district shuts The CBD empties when the offices close, so the evening meal means a hotel dining room, a hotel bar on the ridge, or a ride west to Westlands. Read the post Eating Jun 2026 · 11 min Nyama choma without leaving the grid Roast meat is Nairobi's set-piece meal, but most of it sits outside the CBD. Here is what the format is and when the ride out of the grid is worth taking. Read the post Architecture Jun 2026 · 10 min The deco frontages nobody looks up at Above the shopfronts of Biashara Street and Moi Avenue sit 1930s deco frontages most passers-by never see. Here is what survives on the upper floors, and how to read it. Read the post Architecture Jun 2026 · 10 min Three silver domes on Banda Street Three silver domes and twin minarets, the oldest building still in daily use in the centre. This page covers the Banda Street mosque, its gate and the etiquette for looking. Read the post Eating May 2026 · 12 min Breakfast at the northern market The market on Nairobi's northern edge starts before dawn and finishes before the offices open. This page covers that hour, the breakfast stalls, and the walk there. Read the post Eating May 2026 · 11 min Drinking the grade the country ships Kenya grows coffee the world bids for, yet the centre drank little of it for a century. Here is where the roasteries and counters now cup and pour their own lots. Read the post Eating May 2026 · 11 min The Indian lunch counters A century of Indian retail left the market streets a lunch cooked by kind, not cuisine. Here is how those counters work, and what a page cannot promise. Read the post Eating May 2026 · 11 min The market kitchens, by kind The cheapest good food in the centre is cooked in front of you in working kitchens that feed people on a shift. This page explains what they serve and how the counters work. Read the post Eating May 2026 · 11 min Where the office crowd eats Standard Street and Mama Ngina Street carry the centre's lunch trade, and it turns over fast in the middle of the day. This page sorts the easiest hot lunch by kind. Read the post Getting around Apr 2026 · 11 min Arriving by country bus Most of Kenya reaches the city through the country bus termini on the eastern edge of the CBD. Here is what to settle before you step off. Read the post Getting around Apr 2026 · 10 min Boda boda, and when not to take one Motorcycle taxis are the fastest way through stationary traffic, and the most exposed. Agree the terms first and know when a car is the better call. Read the post Getting around Apr 2026 · 10 min The airport run, and what the expressway changed The expressway changed the airport run, but not every central address benefits equally. Here is what it fixed, what it did not, and what to check before booking. Read the post Getting around Apr 2026 · 10 min The old station still runs trains Commuter trains still use the 1929 station at the foot of the grid. This page sets out what those services are good for, and why the Mombasa line leaves elsewhere. Read the post Getting around Apr 2026 · 10 min Walking the grid: what the straight line hides Distances on this site are direct lines from coordinates, which usually suits the Nairobi Central grid. Three places refuse the straight line, and the page names them. Read the post The grid Mar 2026 · 11 min A first hour in the centre New to the centre and unsure where to start? Which line to hold on to, what the pavement pressure really feels like, and which cautions are warranted. Read the post Getting around Mar 2026 · 11 min How a stage works when there is no sign Most matatu stages in the CBD carry no sign at all. This page explains how the stage itself is read, from where it sits to what to ask before boarding. Read the post Getting around Mar 2026 · 9 min The two hours a day when nothing moves Commuter traffic stops the CBD twice a day, and it reshapes every choice you make there. The practical answer is nearly always to walk, and this page explains when it is not. Read the post The grid Mar 2026 · 11 min Where the grid stops Where does the Central Business District actually end? This page marks the four edges where the grid gives way, and what sits on the other side. Read the post The grid Mar 2026 · 10 min Which streets change at dusk Which of the ten quarters of Nairobi's Central Business District is still worth walking after the offices close, and which is not? The question is put to each in turn. Read the post The grid Feb 2026 · 10 min Biashara Street, one block at a time Cloth, haberdashery and tailors, one shop wide each, on the street built for them, with the City Market hall behind it and Jamia Mosque. Here is what to do first and when to come. Read the post The grid Feb 2026 · 12 min Reading the district from the deck The KICC rooftop deck looks out over the whole CBD grid. This page sets out what the view lays out, and what it cannot tell you. Read the post The grid Feb 2026 · 10 min Ten minutes and a century below the avenue The railway quarter sits a short direct line below the grid's origin and reads a century older than the avenue above it. Here is the descent from bank halls to railway land. Read the post The grid Feb 2026 · 12 min The only long walk in the centre Uhuru Park and Central Park give the CBD its one long walk. This page sets out the route, the skyline view and the dusk closing. Read the post The grid Feb 2026 · 11 min What the Globe roundabout is for The Globe roundabout is the northern hinge of the district, where the grid loosens and the roads north begin. This page settles what it is for, and what it is not. Read the post The grid Jan 2026 · 9 min Muthurwa before the city wakes Muthurwa runs on a market clock the rest of the grid never sees. Find out why this quarter is worth arriving for before dawn, and dead ground by mid-morning. Read the post The grid Jan 2026 · 10 min River Road in daylight River Road is the CBD half that most guides skip, where matatus stage and the country arrives in the city. This page sets what it is for and what an hour in daylight gives you. Read the post The grid Jan 2026 · 13 min The ten minutes between the square and the market halls From the civic block at City Square to the market streets around Biashara Street: what changes over a short crossing of the Central Business District grid. Read the post The grid Jan 2026 · 11 min What the avenue is like once the banks shut Kenyatta Avenue empties when the offices do, and almost nothing on the street still trades by evening. Booking this part of the district for a night out misreads it. Read the post The grid Jan 2026 · 11 min Upper Hill is not the CBD, and says so Upper Hill sits on this site by editorial choice, not by geography. Here is what the address buys, and what it quietly costs. Read the post

House rules

Four things this blog will not do.