Chocking dust at Sportsview

By Njoki Chege

One wonders, which came first? The hood or the hotel? Was the hood named after the hotel, or was the hotel named after the hood?

I’m talking about Sportsview Estate in Nairobi’s Kasarani. The estate derived its name from the fact that it overlooks the enormous Moi International Sports Centre.

Located off Thika Road and approximately 12km from the city centre, Sportsview is part of a larger Kasarani area, which begins from the Roysambu roundabout all the way to Mwiki.

The estate is a mixture of executive flats and luxurious, modern mansions. The area is well served by public transport, with matatu number 17 from bus station or number 11 from Odeon charging between Sh50 and Sh100, depending on the time of the day.

Huge gates

A newly constructed apartment at Sportsview. [PHOTOS: JENIPHER WACHIE/STANDARD]

Residents here have a wide variety of entertainment spots to choose from. Sample this; the ‘Kahura Kanua’, Carwash, Niteflight, Monaco, Memos, PopInn, Uncle Jim’s and Smarta wines and spirits are all squeezed within a distance of less than 300 metres. The roads here are dusty and when it rains are completely impassable. The joke going round is that residents from this place are known by their shoes unless off course they are driving.

The affluent around Sportsview have carved out a territory for themselves with mansions behind the huge gates and live wire fences. Mansions sit on southern part of the area while and flats are on the northern side with a road separating the two. The mansions are grouped into small-gated estates, complete with a gates and hawk-eyed security personnel.

A drive further into the estate will bring you to Sportsview Hotel, tucked away a few metres from the main road. A single room (if any) will cost you no less than Sh5,000 while a double room will cost you Sh8,000 or more. One, two and three bedroom houses are most common and their prices depend on the proximity to the main road.

One bed-roomed house near the road will cost between Sh9,000 and Sh11,000 while two bed-roomed one will cost Sh12,000 or more. While many people prefer living near the main road, more luxurious houses are found further from the road.

Several banks have pitched camp around this area, including KCB, Equity and Barclays. For shopping, you can pop in at Naivas supermarket, which is conspicuous along the main road.