Coming up for air

The Nairobi neighbourhood of Tigoni is only 200km south of the equator but its refreshing altitude of 2,000 metres above sea level offers some breezy relief from the heat. A cool morning mist is slowly clearing as, under the watchful gaze of a bemused colobus monkey, Monocle struggles to locate the Rewildings building site. 

The residential project is the work of architect couple Carolina Larrazábal and James Mitchell. While their studio is nearer downtown Nairobi, the couple put down roots in Tigoni thanks to a manageable commute and easy access to nature. They fell in love with their current site while looking for buildable land. “It was the first one we viewed,” says Mitchell. “We both had that kind of fuzzy feeling when you know that something is right. It really clicked.”

The 33-year-old Spaniard and 36-year-old Scot designed seven low-carbon houses here, including a home for themselves. When Monocle finally locates the turning, the site is brimming with activity. A team of carpenters is cutting sustainably sourced timber, and the smell of charred wood is in the air: the exterior of each house will be treated with the Japanese yakisugi technique that involves charring each panel of wooden cladding. The four-hectare development is both residential and an act of conservation. Surrounded by tea fields, it sits between two forests. By removing most of the tea bushes and replanting native flora, the couple hope to reinstate some forest cover and ecosystem for the likes of the monkey still watching our progress.

Larrazábal and Mitchell aren’t alone in trying to escape Nairobi’s traffic-clogged downtown for the tranquil hills of Tigoni. Several (hugely improved) roads, including one that connects directly to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, have brought the capital within easy reach of a highway, then down lanes lined with banana and acacia trees in just an hour.

With the UN moving more jobs to Nairobi, its largest base in the Global South, property prices have increased by 25 per cent or more in some inner-city neighbourhoods. Tigoni offers value besides its ecological allure; you can buy a three-bedroom townhouse with a small garden in a new development for about €270,000, while a more upmarket four-bedroom Rewildings house will set you back closer to €730,000. A generational change among Tigoni’s traditional tea farmers, coupled with the declining value of the crop, has resulted in landowners seeking to repurpose agricultural land. One of these is Segeni Ng’ethe. The 48-year-old tech entrepreneur grew up on his father’s tea plantation and dairy farm, Gathoni Park Farm, a short drive away from Rewildings.

A few years ago, Ng’ethe decided to leave tech behind and take over the parental plot. Moving from start-ups to running 97 hectares of tea and cattle-fodder plantation was a steep learning curve. “It was not an easy transition, especially on the farming side,” he says. “I remember when I came here, one of the first appointments I had was with a mole hunter. I didn’t know that you could find people with careers in mole hunting. But I was, like, ‘Welcome to the new world.’ We planted avocados and they were all disappearing because of these moles [tunnelling around the tree roots].”

Several equally humbling experiences followed but Ng’ethe transitioned Gathoni from an agricultural business into an eco-tourism destination with a mix of farming and hospitality. He leased out his dairy to a cheese producer and turned the picturesque spaces on the farm into a flower garden, fragrant with the smell of lavender, rosemary and geranium. The gardens are available for bike tours, picnics and weddings. “On weekends, we have all generations, big families, small families, couples,” says Ng’ethe over a cup of tea grown on his own plantation. “Nature is the new angle for recreation. Just having access to the open spaces, the sun, fresh air, listening to birds singing. People just lie down on a blanket and look up into the sky. That’s something that has been growing, particularly among a younger generation of people who want to be outdoors on weekends, especially those who live in apartment buildings.”

Recently Ng’ethe teamed up with his neighbour, Mikul Shah, and built several “tea-pods” (cabins on stilts set in his tea fields) that are available for short-term rental to Nairobians who want a weekend away or tourists who are looking to break their drive to the Masai Mara, 200km to Nairobi’s west. Shah and Ng’ethe are also exploring ideas and financing to open a small hotel, restaurant and conference facility by the nearby lake.

If infrastructure has made Tigoni accessible, Shah and his jewellery-designer wife, Ami Doshi, have played a key role in rebranding the enclave from sleepy to cool. The couple originally rented The Lakehouse – a dwelling with scenic views of the garden and the lake – as a family retreat during the pandemic. “We fell in love with the fact that we’re surrounded by nature and trees that are 90 years old,” says Shah, who was born in coastal Mombasa and lived in London.

The path to The Lakehouse leads through a small, lush forest where the canopy filters the midday sun. The bountiful garden hasn’t changed much since its inception about 70 years ago. The ruby red flowers of an orchid cactus, part of the original landscaping, explode in full bloom. Bushes of giant philodendrons and fern lead towards an imposing flat-top acacia tree by the lake.

Both Shah and his wife saw the potential in using this space to bring people together in Tigoni. The idea for a supper club set in their conservatory with unhindered views of the lake and garden took shape. The tables are decorated with sculptural floral arrangements. Once a month they host wine tastings, culinary pop-ups and birthday parties. The couple are now in the process of closing on a property nearby. “Even properties that are slightly further from what was traditionally Tigoni are calling themselves ‘Tigoni’, because it has an aspirational name attached to it,” says Shah.

Infrastructure and the availability of land and housing aside, Shah thinks that another factor that has been instrumental in the growing appeal of moving here is schooling for the children of people looking to put down roots. “There is an international school that offers a new way of teaching,” he says. “It’s a forest school. Very recently it started taking students up to age 18.” The school, Woodland Star, is next to Brackenhurst forest and students are encouraged to spend their time outdoors. A repurposed Volkswagen campervan serves as an outdoor learning space. About 60 per cent of the children enrolled here travel from Nairobi, while the other 40 per cent live in Tigoni, though these numbers are slowly shifting the other way.

Sunny Im, whose son is due to start at Woodland Star shortly, lives around the corner from the school. “It is an exceptional school,” she says. “People commute into Tigoni for it. If you want to be in Tigoni, if you want the nature and the quiet and you have a child, you kind of have everything in one place.” Im works as a talent strategy consultant for an investment firm that focuses on the renewable energy sector in Africa.

Im was born and grew up in Nairobi. After leaving Kenya to attend college and graduate school in the US, she and her husband returned to East Africa to work in neighbouring Uganda. A day out in Tigoni while visiting family in Nairobi led them to buy land and build a house and guesthouse in the tea fields. Inside, light streams in through contemporary floor-to-ceiling windows. Teak flooring warms the modern, sleek design, while two fireplaces – indoor and outdoor – can be lit during chilly Tigoni evenings.

Buying land and building from scratch is possible but it’s not the only way to secure property in Tigoni. For those who like the quiet but not the gardening, apartments and townhouses with access to an expressway into central Nairobi are now on the market, while projects that require renovation, such as older farmhouses and 1970s bungalows, are also available to rent or buy. Sakina Seif and her family moved here to have access to more living space. She and her American husband commute to Nairobi to run their business, Kentaste, which is the largest manufacturer of coconut-based products in East Africa.

Sensing an appetite for gastronomic variety, Seif opened Nifty, a café that overlooks Brackenhurst forest and has become a popular spot for brunch and after-work drinks. With more and more young professionals moving to Tigoni, hospitality is catching up. That, in return, has made the enclave more attractive to day-trippers. Set in a refurbished dairy, The Fig and Olive, a recently opened café, deli and grocery shop, offers everything from poached eggs to quality ingredients such as bronze-die-cut pasta and organic chicken. At Como, owner and chef Stephanie Kiragu incorporates regional ingredients such as tree tomatoes into her cooking. Organic farms, including Forest Foods, have excellent produce that can be delivered.

The Limuru Country Club, equidistant from The Lakehouse and Nifty, is a good place to meet and mingle. On a Saturday afternoon, the smell of barbecued nyama choma wafts through the air. After hitting a ball around, the mostly male members of the club congregate on the terrace to tuck into a portion of grilled meat with kachumbari, a lime-juice-infused tomato salad. The club has access to an 18-hole golf course, a tennis court and a pool. It’s a favourite of both the Tigoni elite and younger newcomers such as Mitchell and Shah. Every two months the nearby Red Hill Gallery has a vernissage showcasing East African artists.

Now that Tigoni’s property secrets are out, the challenge will be to preserve its relative serenity. There are concerns that improved commuting times and open spaces could lead to the uncontrolled development that has seized other parts of the Kenyan capital. “The change is positive,” says Segeni Ng’ethe. He is confident that Tigoni’s unique landscape will not be erased as development draws closer. “It’s bringing new ideas and different spending power.” — L