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For other uses, see Westlands (disambiguation).
Westlands at night
Westlands at night
Nickname(s): Westie
Westlands is located in Kenya
Location of Westlands in Kenya
Coordinates: 01°16′12″S 36°48′36″E﻿ / ﻿1.27000°S 36.81000°E﻿ / -1.27000; 36.81000
Country  Kenya
County Nairobi County
City Nairobi
Elevation 5,600 ft (1,700 m)

Westlands is an affluent neighbourhood in the city of Nairobi, the capital and largest city in Kenya.


Located 3.1 kilometres (1.9 mi) by road northwest of the central business district of Nairobi,[1] Westlands was a residential district during the colonial period which ended in 1963. During the 1990s and early 2000s, as land and office space became scarce and exorbitantly priced in the central business district, more businesses have relocated to Westlands and Upper Hill, where land and office space are more readily available and less expensive. Westlands was initially considered part of the Parklands area and straddled what is now Waiyaki Way, originally the Kenya-Uganda Railway. The area has been nicknamed Westie by the youth of Nairobi. It is nowadays typically inhabited by a significant number of the city's expat population.


In Westlands or near the boundaries of the neighbourhood, there are several landmarks, including the following:

Westlands division[edit]

Apart from being a commercial centre, Westlands is also one of the eight administrative divisions in Nairobi. The division consists of the following six subdivisions (locations):

Westlands is also an electoral constituency, the Westlands Constituency. It has the same borders with Westlands division.

Deep Sea Settlement[edit]

Within the Westlands division lies the Deep Sea Settlement. This is a shanty town of approximately 7,000 inhabitants. In 2005 a private firm, with police support, began bulldozing homes, an act the Kenyan high court deemed illegal, due to a law allowing people land rights after squatting there for more than 12 years. Combined with this land-rights issue, poverty is rife and is exacerbated by the area's poor sanitation.[2] [3]

External links[edit]

See also[edit]

