Muthaiga: the antidote for Nairobi city's woes

Visiting Ethiopian golfers at Muthaiga golf club, with them Muthaiga Captain F.F Allen. From left, Semere, Tzehaye, Aelion President of Asmara club, Goiton and Gherencse. March 16, 1966. [File, Standard]

The land craze and speculation being witnessed in Nairobi today did not start yesterday. The grandfather of all speculators was a colonial settler, Sandbach Baker, who secured 5,000 acres to start a dairy farm in what later turned out to be the most sought after address in the capital a century later.

Baker's dairy farm thrived but not as his wife, Marie Vera, wanted. And in 1907, an exclusive residential estate would come up. After some time, the settler's wife became convinced they could make more money from the farm by selling it in smaller pieces. So...