A Weekend at The Moon Serenity Thindigua Branch: Where to Eat, Shop, Explore and Slow Down Along Kiambu Road
Kiambu Road does something most Nairobi roads don’t. It gets quieter the further out you go. Start at the Muthaiga roundabout and push north and the city thins out behind you — Ridgeways with its hedges and gates, Fourways Junction, The Moon Serenity Thindigua Branch where our 1 & 2 bedroom furnished apartments are stack up, then the road opens into coffee and tea on the way to Kiambu town. A whole weekend fits along it without once crossing town. That’s the appeal. Here’s what to do with it.
Eat
The eating on this road splits into three kinds, and the trick is knowing which one you want before you set off.
The malls
Ridgeways Mall and Ciata Mall both carry the familiar names — Java House at each of them — and that is exactly the point on a Saturday when you have children, or shopping bags, or people who want different things. Nobody argues at a mall. K-Mall in Thindigua sits closer in, useful when you can’t be bothered to drive far.
The proper sit-down
The Lord Erroll and Ridgeview Grill & Lounge are the ones people book along this stretch, and the Windsor Golf Hotel & Country Club sits off the road for the same sort of occasion. These are for the evening you’ve planned — an anniversary, people visiting, the lunch that runs into late afternoon because nobody wants to move. Book ahead. Don’t arrive at one on a Sunday at two expecting a table.
The roadside
This is the one visitors miss and residents rely on. Choma places, the fruit stalls, the mama mboga stands where the tomatoes are better than anything in the mall. Mutura in the evening. Chapo and mandazi in the morning from a kibanda near the stage. You don’t book these, you just know them, and the way to find them is to stop walking past.
A weekend that uses all three eats well. A weekend that only uses the malls ends up costing more and tasting like anywhere else.
Shop
Two different errands, so treat them separately.
- The weekly shop is easiest at Quickmart in Thindigua, which is close enough that you don’t lose an afternoon to it. Two Rivers is the bigger option and it’s ten minutes over towards Ruaka — the largest mall in sub-Saharan Africa outside South Africa, so everything is there, including the ferris wheel and the cinema if the shopping turns into a day out.
- The market shop is a different thing and it’s worth the trip. Kiambu town markets are where the produce is fresh, cheaper and sold in heaps rather than plastic. Go early. Carry your own bags. Buy the things that actually benefit from being fresh — greens, tomatoes, fruit, onions — and leave the tinned and packaged things for the supermarket.
If you’re staying somewhere with a kitchen, do the market on Saturday morning and you’ve fed yourself well for the whole weekend for a fraction of what a restaurant run costs.
Explore
Karura Forest
If you do one thing this weekend, do this one, and do it early.
Karura is over a thousand hectares of forest inside the city — the one Wangari Maathai fought for and won. There are waterfalls, marked trails, wetlands where the birders stand very still, and the Mau Mau caves, which are worth seeing partly for what they are and partly for what happened in them. Three gates. The main one is on Limuru Road just past the Belgian Embassy. There’s a gate off Kiambu Road opposite the CID headquarters, which is the convenient one from this side. And there’s the Old Kiambu Gate on Old Kiambu Road. Tickets are sold at the gate between six in the morning and five in the evening.
Tip: Go at seven. By ten it’s full of runners, cyclists, families and picnic blankets, and it becomes a different place — still good, just not quiet. At seven you get the light through the trees and the sound of nothing much.
Paradise Lost
Further up, past Kiambu town, sitting in a coffee plantation is Paradise Lost. It’s reported at around fifty-four acres, with caves cut by the Gichi River — obsidian in the rock, and a history as a hiding place during the Mau Mau years. There’s a waterfall and a small lake, and you can take a boat out, ride a camel, walk the grounds or camp. It’s the better choice when you’ve got children, or when you want a day out rather than a walk. Check what’s currently open and what it costs before you drive up.
The road itself
Don’t underestimate this one. Drive out past Fourways Junction towards Kiambu on a Sunday morning and the tarmac gives way to coffee and tea, the air cools, and the whole thing takes an hour if you don’t stop and three if you do. No entry fee. No booking.
Slow down
This is the part of the weekend people plan least and need most.
The mistake is filling it. You come out here for two days and try to do Karura, Paradise Lost, a long lunch, the market and a mall, and on Sunday evening you’re tired in exactly the way you were on Friday. Pick two things. Leave the rest.
What slowing down actually looks like on this road: coffee outside in the morning before anyone else is up, because the mornings here are cold enough to need a jumper and quiet enough to notice. A walk that isn’t going anywhere. An afternoon with nothing in it. Cooking something properly instead of queueing for it. Going to bed early because there’s no reason not to.
The corridor helps with this in a way the middle of town can’t. It’s residential. Nothing is happening outside your window at eleven at night. That’s the trade you’re making — no street of restaurants downstairs, but genuine quiet — and on a weekend built around rest, it’s the right trade.
A few practical things
- Bring a jacket. Nairobi sits high and the evenings here get properly cold, which catches people out every time.
- Carry cash for the roadside stalls and the market. Everything else takes M-Pesa or card.
- Check the weather. During the long rains around March to May, and the short ones from October, an afternoon downpour will rearrange your plans and the traffic — have an indoor option ready.
- A car makes this weekend much easier. Everything is spread along one road rather than clustered in one place, and getting between the market, the forest and a restaurant without one takes real planning.
The weekend, in order
- Friday evening. Arrive late if you can, after the worst of the traffic out of town has cleared. Don’t plan anything. Eat something simple.
- Saturday morning. Karura by seven. Two hours in the forest. Then Kiambu town market on the way back, or Quickmart if you can’t face the drive.
- Saturday afternoon. Nothing. Deliberately. Cook lunch, sit outside, sleep if you want to.
- Saturday evening. This is the night for a proper meal out — The Lord Erroll or Ridgeview if you’ve booked, choma if you haven’t.
- Sunday morning. Church if that’s your Sunday. Otherwise a slow start and the drive out towards Kiambu through the coffee.
- Sunday afternoon. Either Paradise Lost if you’ve got the energy and the company for it, or a long lunch and an early night before the week starts.
- Sunday evening. Leave before six or after eight. In between, everyone is coming back into town at once.
Where this weekend is written from
The Moon Serenity Furnished Apartments has branches in Ruaka, Thindigua (Kalwani Park, on the Kiambu Road corridor) and Fourways (off Kiambu Road near Fourways Junction) — which happens to be the part of Nairobi with the shortest run to every place on this list. The KFS Karura gate off Kiambu Road is on your natural route. The Kiambu and Limuru country roads start not far past you. Two Rivers is close by in Runda.
For anyone doing outdoor days properly, the furnished-apartment format earns its keep in unglamorous ways: a kitchen means you eat before a 6.30am start instead of waiting for a restaurant to open, and you come back to somewhere you can wash red mud off boots and dry a jacket. Options run from studios through one-bedrooms to two-bedrooms in Fourways, and you can browse all furnished apartments or go straight to Ruaka, Thindigua or Fourways. What’s included is set out under services, and if you’d rather just ask a person which branch suits your plans, call 0742 893 213 or use the contact page.
Frequent Asked Questions (FAQs)
Is one night enough for a Kiambu Road weekend at The Moon Serenity Thindigua Branch?
One night works if you only want Karura and a good meal. Two nights is when the slowing-down part actually happens, because the whole of Saturday stops being a travel day.
What’s the best time to go to Karura?
Between six and eight in the morning. Tickets are sold at the gate from six until five, and the forest is quietest before the weekend crowd arrives around mid-morning.
Which Karura gate should you use from Kiambu Road?
The KFS main gate off Kiambu Road, opposite the CID headquarters. The Limuru Road entrance past the Belgian Embassy is the busier main one.
Is this a good weekend with children?
Yes, but weight it towards Paradise Lost and Two Rivers Mall rather than long walks and long lunches. Karura still works with children if you keep it to an hour.
What is there to do if it rains?
The malls — Ridgeways, Ciata, K-Mall, Two Rivers with its cinema. Karura is still walkable in light rain but the trails get slippery and the drive back takes longer.
Do you need a car?
It helps a lot. The attractions are spread along one road rather than grouped together, and moving between the market, the forest and a restaurant without a car takes planning.
Is anything open on Sunday?
The malls and most restaurants, yes. Markets are quieter and some stalls won’t be trading. Karura sells tickets seven days a week within its stated hours.
Is Kiambu Road better than Thika Road for staying in northern Nairobi?
The corridor is generally reported as more serene and less congested than parallel Thika Road, with more tree cover and a calmer feel. Which suits you depends on where you need to be during the week.
