May-June-issue

TRAVEL
Nairobi’s Eastlands might not seem a prime tourist destination
at first glance, but for more than a year now, one enterprising
homeowner has turned an apartment in the middle of an
Eastlands estate into a mini-hotel, and is commanding a rate
of $60 a night from a steadily increasing stream of visitors.
students of African culture with the
opportunity to study and experience
through live performances of their
ancient ways and create an interesting
outing for school children at the same
time. This is why the opening of Riuki
Cultural Centre in 1988 was received
with such warm enthusiasm from
lovers of Kenyan cultural heritage.
According to Dr. Njoroge, “the
centre is more an educational centre
than a tourist resort. ‘It is not our wish
to compete with commercial tourist
attractions that expose Africans to
ridicule with dances twisted to suit the
interests of the tourists and without
caring whether the performers are
enjoying themselves. Some of the
virtues associated with African culture
are generosity, kindness, sharing and
respect between different age groups,
ethnic groups and other people.
Culture gives people an identity.”
Riuki, which means hearth
or simply the centre of a Gikuyu
homestead, and nucleus of the family,
is an apt name for the enterprise. It
portrays Agikuyu rural life and culture
both in outlook and activities.
When Kinuthia set up the centre,
prior to the establishment of Bomas
of Kenya, Riuki replicated a vanishing,
but still common lifestyle that could
still be found in many areas of
Central Kenya. More than 50 years
of continuous development have
transformed the lifestyles of many of
the Gikuyu people in some cases for
the better, in some for the worse. But
the Riuki Cultural centre has been
faithfully preserved and maintained
as a priceless snapshot of how one
of Kenya’s most vibrant communities
lived in the first half of the 20th
A typical traditional Gikuyu homestead comprising five houses.
66 MAY - JUNE 2018