Ole Kasasi is a neighbourhood of striking contrasts. The former pastoral settlement in Kajiado is one of the fastest growing Nairobi satellite towns.

Yet even as urbanisation drastically changes the landscape, it has refused to entirely shed the customs that predate the construction boom.

Along roads leading in sit small shops, hardware stores and rental houses. Further inside, newly built apartments and gated communities are emerging among older family homes and open stretches of land.

Students rent modest rooms while families buy four-bedroom houses priced tens of millions of shillings. Developers are putting up apartments as sellers divide former expanses of land into smaller plots.

“Here, when we talk about gated communities, most of those units will have at least four bedrooms,” says Linda Mokeira, chief executive of real estate agency Jalisa Limited.

For families seeking more space, developers chasing demand and students looking for cheap accommodation, Ole Kasasi has become an increasingly attractive destination.

Much of this transformation has happened in little more than two decades. For long-time residents and land sellers, however, the history of Ole Kasasi stretches much further back, to a time when the area was largely pastoral land known as Erangau, or Rangau, and the idea of a busy property market was still far off.

Today, the neighbourhood is drawing buyers who want the space and relative tranquillity that have become increasingly difficult to find in the capital.

One of the easiest ways into Ole Kasasi is from the Maasai Lodge stage, where tuk-tuks and taxis ferry residents and visitors into the neighbourhood.

About three kilometres in stands the Ole Kasasi Police Station, one of the area's best-known landmarks. Around it, small shops, eateries, hardware stores and rental houses line the roads, reflecting the commercial activity that has accompanied the population increase.

For Teketi Kimunyak, a long-time land seller, the story of Ole Kasasi begins with one family and a large tract of land. “Originally, Ole Kasasi is tied to the person who owned a major part of the area, almost 1,000 acres,” he says.

The land was eventually subdivided and sold, bringing in more settlers and gradually changing the character of the area.

In its early years, Ole Kasasi was largely residential and pastoral. The Maasai were the dominant community and commercial activity was limited.

“People started settling because the place was peaceful, with a lot of fresh air,” Mr Kimunyak says. “At that time most of the people were the Maasai and it was not yet a commercial place until the early 2000s.”

That, he says, began to change as development from Rongai pushed further into Kajiado East.

“Gradually, the place started developing into a town with amenities like African Nazarene University, hospitals, and commercial developments. Rongai also started developing toward Ole Kasasi and the interior part of Kajiado East,” he says.

Cheap land turns prime property

The transformation is perhaps most visible in land prices. Mr Kimunyak remembers when an acre could be bought for only a few hundred thousand shillings.

“The land prices are increasing every day, because about 15 years ago you could find an acre for even Sh300,000 to Sh500,000,” he says.

Today, the figures are measured in millions.

Ms Mokeira says an acre in prime sections can fetch as much as Sh30 million. “As you go into the interior, an acre will cost Sh16 million to Sh20 million,” she says.

Ms Mokeira says an eighth of an acre of land aound Nazarene University all the way down to the Maasai Lodge can cost Sh3.5 million to Sh5 million.

The sharp rise reflects a fundamental change in what buyers are looking for. Ms Mokeira points out that Ole Kasasi offers something increasingly scarce in Nairobi: room to build a standalone home, maintain a compound and still remain within reach of the city.

“Families want standalone houses, a compound, greenery and a quieter environment,” she says.

Eager to capitalise on the market demand that is also driven by Kenyans living in the diaspora looking for property investments, developers are increasingly putting up gated communities and multi-unit developments, particularly around the university.

Ms Mokeira says the profile of the prospecive Ole Kasasi property buyer is a Nairobi residents who want to move away from congested neighborhoods without going too far from the capital, as well as.

“They want to be in a developed area, but without being in squeezed spaces,” Ms Mokeira says.

A market of two worlds

The university has added another layer to the property market. Student demand has supported the growth of hostels, bedsitters and smaller apartments, creating a steady rental market alongside the more expensive family housing.

The result is a neighbourhood where two very different property markets exist side by side.

A modern four-bedroom house in a gated community can sell for between Sh25 million and Sh35 million, Ms Mokeira says, while standalone homes can reach Sh50 million depending on the size of the compound and quality of construction.
And rents have risen alongside property values.

A one-bedroom unit can rent for between Sh10,000 and Sh25,000 a month, while modern two-bedroom units can exceed Sh35,000. Three-bedroom houses go for around Sh50,000, according to Ms Mokeira.

In gated communities, rents can reach Sh75,000 a month, with some landlords asking as much as Sh100,000 depending on the size of the house, finishes and amenities.

This range of properties has made Ole Kasasi attractive to a broad market, but it has also created pressure on the infrastructure supporting the expanding population.

Growth outpacing planning

The construction boom has brought shops, hardware stores and other businesses, but it has also exposed gaps in infrastructure and planning.

“There is a challenge with infrastructure and the sewer system; there is also no proper zoning,” Ms Mokeira says. “You cannot easily say that this is a high rise zone, this is a maisonette zone, etc.”

For homeowners, the absence of clearly defined development patterns can create uncertainty about what may eventually be built next door and how new developments could affect the character and value of existing properties.

Water is another concern, with many residents relying on boreholes to supplement supply.

Yet the rapid construction has also created a local economy of its own.

At a hardware shop in Ole Kasasi, Barnabas Ruto serves a steady mix of homeowners and builders.

“We sell finishing equipment like toilets, tiles, pipes, and cement. Our biggest clients are homeowners,” he say, adding that tiles are among the fastest-moving products.

His business is one small example of how the property boom has spread beyond landowners and developers, creating demand for building materials, transport, labour and other services.

Keeping the connection

For all the new houses, roads and rising property prices, Ole Kasasi has not entirely lost its connection to the landscape that existed before the construction boom.

Mr Kimunyak remembers a time when wild animals were part of everyday life for Maasai residents.

“Interestingly, in our culture, we believe you can only be attacked by a wild animal if you are cursed or there is something bad that you did that does not please God and man,” he says.

Urbanisation has since pushed much of that wildlife away from the more populated sections.

“The place still upholds culture because we are pastoralists and most people keep moving about with their herds,” Mr Kimunyak says.

The herds and remaining open spaces now share the landscape with construction sites, rental apartments and gated communities.

But as more land is subdivided and more houses rise, Ole Kasasi faces a question familiar to many of Nairobi’s expanding suburbs: how much of the character that made the area desirable can survive the development that is making it valuable?

For now, developers, traders, students, and homeowners are focused on getting the best they can from Ole Kasasi.

→mrsitawa@ke.nationmedia.com