Nairobi the affluent Karen suburb. Uhuru Gardens, a national monument and the largest memorial park in Kenya, is also the place where the first Kenyan flag was raised at independence. It is located along Langata road near the Wilson Airport. Nairobi is nicknamed the "Safari Capital of the World" or "the Green City in the Sun", and has many hotels to cater for safari-bound tourists. Five-star hotels in Nairobi include the Nairobi Serena, Laico Regency (formerly Grand Regency Hotel), Windsor (Karen), Holiday Inn, Nairobi Safari Club (Lilian Towers), The Sarova Stanley Hotel, Safari Park & Casino, InterContinental, Panari Hotel, Hilton, and
History of Nairobi plague and the subsequent burning down of the original town. By 1905, Nairobi was a humming commercial center and replaced Mombasa as capital of the British East Africa. The city expanded, supported by the growth in administrative functions and in tourism, initially in the form of British big game hunting. As the British colonialists explored the region, they began using Nairobi as their first stop. This prompted the colonial government to build several grand hotels in the city for British tourists and big game hunters. Nairobi continued to grow under British rule, and many Britons settled within the city's suburbs.