Guides ·Day trips

Why Machakos, and how to get there

Machakos is the old Ukambani administrative town, established in 1887 as the first inland British headquarters before Nairobi existed, and it sits in a bowl of green hills 63 kilometres southeast of the capital. It is not a wildlife destination and it has no famous museum, which is exactly the point: it is where you go to see an ordinary, prosperous Kenyan county town, eat well for very little and walk in hills nobody photographs. Half a day is enough, a full day is comfortable.

Drive out on the A109 Mombasa Road through Athi River, then turn left at the Machakos junction onto the C99; the whole run is 75 to 90 minutes outside rush hour, and the Nairobi Expressway from Westlands to Mlolongo, about KSh300 in tolls for a car, saves you the worst of it. Matatus to Machakos leave from the Machakos Country Bus station and the Railways area in the Nairobi CBD roughly every 15 minutes from 6am, cost KSh200 to KSh300 and take 90 minutes. It is one of the easiest day trips from Nairobi without a car.

Machakos People's Park and Maruba Dam

Machakos People's Park, opened in 2015 on the edge of town, is the county's showpiece: 100-odd acres of landscaped lawns, a lake with paddle boats, an amphitheatre and food kiosks. Entry is nominal, a couple of hundred shillings, boats around KSh300, and on Sundays and public holidays it fills with families, church groups and wedding photographers. It is a very Kenyan afternoon rather than a tourist attraction, and the walk around the water takes an hour. There is shade, which matters here.

Above the park, Maruba Dam supplies the town's water and its reservoir has a walkable perimeter with good birdlife: herons, kingfishers, weavers and the occasional hamerkop. Local guides at the park gate will walk you up for KSh500 to KSh1,000. Go in the morning before the heat, take water, and expect to be the only visitor doing it. Combined, the park and dam are two easy hours and cost less than a coffee in Westlands.

The hills: Iveti, Kituluni and Kyamwilu

The Iveti Hills rise straight behind Machakos town to about 1,900 metres, and the road up through Kaseve and Katoloni is one of the best short drives near Nairobi, with views back over the town and out across the Athi plains toward Ol Donyo Sabuk on a clear day. You can walk sections of it; boda-boda riders will take you up for KSh300 to KSh500 and wait. Mist and coffee smallholdings on the upper slopes make it feel a long way from Mombasa Road, which is 30 kilometres away.

Kituluni Hill, on the Machakos–Wote road, is the local viewpoint of choice and the site of the Kyamwilu gravity anomaly, where a stretch of tarmac appears to make vehicles roll uphill. It is an optical illusion caused by the surrounding slope, and it is genuinely fun to test with a bottle of water; there is usually a small crowd and someone charging a token fee. Sunset from the Kituluni ridge over the hills to the west is the best free thing in the county.

Wood carvings at Wamunyu

Thirty-five kilometres east of Machakos on the road toward Kitui, Wamunyu is the village where Kenya's wood-carving industry began: a Kamba veteran named Mutisya Munge started carving after the First World War and the trade spread from there to every souvenir stall in Nairobi. The Wamunyu Handicraft Cooperative workshops let you watch carvers working ebony, mahogany and neem with hand tools, and buy at source. A small bowl runs KSh500, a good animal figure KSh1,500 to KSh4,000, a large piece considerably more.

Prices here are perhaps a third of the Maasai Market in Nairobi and the quality is easier to judge because you can see the raw wood. Ask about the species and whether the piece is one block or glued; check the base for cracks. A matatu from Machakos to Wamunyu is KSh150 to KSh200 and takes 45 minutes, or add it as a loop if you have a car. It turns Machakos from a park visit into an actual craft trip.

Eating in Machakos

Machakos food is Kamba home cooking, cheap and generous. The staple to order is muthokoi, dehusked maize stewed with pigeon peas and often served with a stew of goat or beef, around KSh250 to KSh400 in a town canteon. Isyo, the maize-and-bean mix, and mukimo appear on the same menus. Grilled goat at the choma joints on Syokimau Road and around the market runs KSh900 to KSh1,200 a kilo with kachumbari and ugali included.

For a sit-down lunch, the Gelian Hotel on Mombasa Road in town and the Machakos Green Hotel do buffets and grills at KSh700 to KSh1,500, and the Gelian rooftop is the one place in town with a proper view. The open-air market by the bus stage sells mangoes, oranges, sweet bananas and macadamia nuts far cheaper than Nairobi — a kilo of mangoes in season is under KSh100 — and that is what to fill your bag with before heading home.

Timing and what a day costs

Leave Nairobi by 8am and you will be in Machakos before 10am, with the hills done before the midday heat, lunch at 1pm, the People's Park in the afternoon and back in the city by 6pm. Add Wamunyu and you need a 7am start. Avoid arriving mid-afternoon on a Sunday, when the park is at its busiest and the matatus back to Nairobi are full. Machakos sits at about 1,600 metres and is warmer and drier than Nairobi, so bring sun protection.

Costs are the appeal. By matatu, a full day comes to KSh1,500 to KSh2,500 per person including return fares, the park, boda-bodas and lunch. With a private car and driver it is KSh8,000 to KSh12,000 for the vehicle plus about KSh300 in Expressway tolls and KSh1,500 in fuel. It is the cheapest genuine day trip from Nairobi, and unlike Naivasha or Nakuru there are no park entry fees to change the arithmetic.

Frequently asked questions

What people ask before they set off on this one.

Rooms worth pairing with this guide.

Machakos Pullman Nairobi Upper Hill

4.7/5 KSh26398/ night

Machakos Radisson Blu Hotel Nairobi Upper Hill

4.7/5 KSh23421/ night

Machakos Fairview Hotel Nairobi Vignette Collection by IHG

4.6/5 KSh26398/ night

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