Karen is a suburb of Nairobi in Kenya, lying south-west of Nairobi's central business district. The suburb of Karen borders the Ngong Forest and is home to the Ngong Racecourse. Karen and Langata previously formed a somewhat isolated area of mid to high-income residents, but the two suburbs have become increasingly interconnected and linked to the rest of Nairobi through the expansion of the eponymous Langata Road and Ngong Road, the latter project completed in 2021.
Karen was previously in Ngong County. After Nairobi received city status in 1950 the counties were redefined. In 1963 Karen was placed under the Nairobi City Council's administration. [1]
It is generally considered that the suburb is named after Karen Blixen, the Danish author of the colonial memoir Out of Africa ; her farm occupied the land where the suburb now stands. Blixen declared in her later writings that "the residential district of Karen" was "named after me," although it has never been formally recognised. [2]
Blixen's home is still standing and forms the centerpiece of the Karen Blixen Museum, a key local tourist attraction. [3] Other tourist attractions are the AFEW Giraffe Center, the exclusive Giraffe Manor, the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust Elephant Orphanage, and the Oloolua Forest nature trails.
On 1 September 2017 the first interreligious conference of the DIMMID in Africa took place at the Subiaco Center of the Missionary Benedictine Sisters of Tutzing. [4]
Karen is a vibrant residential suburb characterized by big mansions, many trees, a tranquil atmosphere, and plush gardens this is due to the areas minimum acreage requirement for all homeowners. [5] Karen is also home to an increasing number upscale restaurants, hotels, and malls such as The Hub and The Waterfront. There is a branch of the Red Cross in Karen. [5]
The Karengata Association manages Karen and Langata. It was organized in 1940 and by 2010 it had begun to manage the area's infrastructure. [5]
Karen is mainly populated by the wealthier demographic of Kenyans, as well as the political class. [6]
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The West Nairobi School is located in Karen. The current campus opened in 2000. [7]
The Nairobi Japanese School is located in the Lang'ata area, [8] in proximity to Karen. [9]
Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nairobi, which translates to 'place of cool waters', a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper had a population of 4,397,073 in the 2019 census. The Greater Nairobi Metropolitan Area has a population of about 7,000,000 people. The city is commonly referred to as The Green City in the Sun.
Baroness Karen Christenze von Blixen-Finecke was a Danish author who wrote in Danish and English. She is also known under her pen names Isak Dinesen, used in English-speaking countries; Tania Blixen, used in German-speaking countries; Osceola, and Pierre Andrézel.
Out of Africa is a 1985 American epic romantic drama film directed and produced by Sydney Pollack, and starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford. The film is based loosely on the 1937 autobiographical book Out of Africa written by Isak Dinesen, with additional material from Dinesen's 1960 book Shadows on the Grass and other sources.
Thomas Fasti Dinesen was a Danish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He was the younger brother of the author Karen Blixen.
The Ngong Hills are peaks in a ridge along the Great Rift Valley, located southwest near Nairobi, in southern Kenya. The word "Ngong" is an Anglicization of a Maasai phrase "enkong'u emuny" meaning rhinoceros spring, and this name derives from a spring located near Ngong Town.
The Karen Blixen Museum, located 10 km outside of Nairobi, Kenya, "at the foot of the Ngong Hills", is the former African home of Danish author Karen Blixen, famous for her 1937 book Out of Africa which chronicles life at the estate.
Lang'ata is a predominantly middle-class residential suburb of Nairobi in Kenya. The suburb consists of many smaller housing developments, referred to as estates. They include Nairobi Dam, Otiende, Southlands, Ngei, Jambo estate, Onyonka, Madaraka Estate, Kutch Prant, Rubia, NHC Langata, Akiba, Sun Valley, Royal Park and many others. These developments are primarily maisonettes or apartment blocks.
The Giraffe Centre is located in Lang'ata, approximately 20 kilometres (12 mi) from the centre of Nairobi, Kenya. It was established in order to protect the vulnerable giraffe, that is found only in the grasslands of East Africa.
Out of Africa is a memoir by the Danish author Karen Blixen. The book, first published in 1937, recounts events of the seventeen years when Blixen made her home in Kenya, then called British East Africa. The book is a lyrical meditation on Blixen's life on her coffee plantation, as well as a tribute to some of the people who touched her life there. It provides a vivid snapshot of African colonial life in the last decades of the British Empire. Blixen wrote the book in English and then rewrote it in Danish. The book has sometimes been published under the author's pen name, Isak Dinesen.
Mathare is a collection of slums in Nairobi with a population of approximately 500,000 people; the population of Mathare Valley alone, the oldest of the slums that make up Mathare, is 180,000 people. Mathare is the home of football teams Mathare United and Real Mathare of the MYSA. Mathare is currently part of two electoral constituencies; the titular Mathare Constituency and the northern part being in Ruaraka Constituency. The northern part was initially part of Kasarani Constituency up to the 2013 elections when Kasarani was split into three electoral constituencies; Ruaraka being among them. The southern part was domiciled in Starehe Constituency.
The Karen Hospital is a private, multi-specialty hospital located in the Karen suburb of Nairobi, Kenya's capital city. The hospital has an in-patient bed capacity of 102.
Lang'ata Constituency is an electoral constituency in Nairobi City County. It is one of the seventeen constituencies in the county. It consists of southern and southwestern areas of Nairobi. Langata constituency had common boundaries with a now-defunct Kibera Division of Nairobi. It is the largest constituency in Nairobi with an area of 196.80 km2 (76.0 sq mi). It was known as Nairobi South Constituency at the 1963 elections but since the 1969 elections it has been known as Lang'ata Constituency.
Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA) is a multi-campus private university in Kenya. It is accredited by the Commission for University Education in Kenya.
Giraffe Manor is a small hotel in the Lang'ata suburb of Nairobi, Kenya which, together with its associated Giraffe Centre, serves as a home to a number of endangered Rothschild's giraffes, and operates a breeding programme to reintroduce breeding pairs back into the wild to secure the future of the subspecies.
Ongata Rongai is a town located in Kajiado North, Kajiado County, Kenya. The town is situated 17 km (10.6 mi) south of the Nairobi CBD, East of the Ngong hills, and within the greater Nairobi Metropolitan Region. It lies 1,731 meters (5,682 feet) above sea level. According to the 2019 Census, it is the most populous town in Kajiado County and eleventh largest urban centre by population in Kenya.
I&M Bank Kenya Limited, is a commercial bank in Kenya, the largest economy in the East African Community. It is licensed by the Central Bank of Kenya, the central bank and national banking regulator.
Upper Hill is a neighbourhood of the city of Nairobi, the capital and largest city of Kenya. The district has seen an increase in major construction in recent years, with several multinational corporations setting up offices.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Nairobi, Kenya.
The Nairobi Japanese School is a Japanese school located in the Lang'ata area of Nairobi, Kenya, in proximity to Karen. The school serves Japanese expatriate students.
Woodley is a residential neighbourhood in the city of Nairobi. It is approximately 4.4 kilometres (2.7 mi) west of the central business district. It generally a low-density suburb that lies north of Africa's largest slum, Kibera. Woodley Estate was completed in 1950 and named after the then mayor of Nairobi, Sir Richard Woodley.
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