Ranges View: Nakuru's Most Sought After Address
A view of ranges view estate. The estate is now attracting investors and residents moving from the crowded Milimani estate.
Sandwiched between the posh Milimani estate to the West and Whitehouse to the East, Ranges View estate is perhaps the most sought after residential area in Nakuru City.
Once a grazing land, Ranges View Estate has developed to a real hot spot and one of the most sought after residential addresses in Nakuru County with modern and attractive homes coming up.
Residents in the estate enjoy a panoramic view of the pink-stained edges of Lake Nakuru.
Buoyed by the rising demand for housing in Nakuru City, the estate has also become a destination of choice by most investors in real estate.
According to Mr Juma Apusayi, about fifteen years ago, Ranges View Estate, was a bushy area with green vegetation suitable for grazing animals.
"People from neighboring areas in Bahati drove their animals here in search of pasture. The area has grown overtime to become what it is today," said Mr Apusayi.
Interestingly, Ranges View Estate has less fortunate neighbors next door-Nyamaroto slum area, sandwiched between Menengai Forest and Ranges View estate.
A view of Gichagi which is a slum next to the posh Ranges view estate in Nakuru
In fact, many of the dwellers in Nyamaroto slums call it 'Gichagi' meaning village.
Charles Kamau, who has resided in Ranges View Estate for more than a decade says the two areas share an imaginary boundary, but residents have been co-existing over the years.
"We depend on our neighbors for cheap and affordable labor such as gardeners, among other home chores. We live as one," said Mr Kamau.
Nyamaroto, just like other informal settlement areas, has its fair share of challenges.
Sale of illicit brew and other drugs including bhang thrives here.
The writer established that most of the inhabitants of Nyamaroto slum area were the original land owners of where Ranges View estate stands today.
But over time, they sold off part of their land to rich investors, who have developed the neighborhood.
Ms Jane Kimani, a resident of Nyamaroto area, admits that she sold off her land in 2010, at about Sh600,000, to an investor who built a residential area.
Ten years later, she still lives in poverty.
According to Vitalis Kemboi, another resident of Ranges view estate, the area has attracted property investors and individual land buyers.
"In the 1990s, a plot was going for Sh60,000, but currently a plot sells at between Sh2million to Sh6million,” he says.