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Westlands
Westlands
	Woodvale Grove, Westlands, Nairobi
	Nickname: Westie
	Westlands Location of Westlands in Kenya
	Coordinates: 01°16′12″S 36°48′36″E / 1.27000°S 36.81000°E
Country	Kenya
County	Nairobi County
City	Nairobi
City Division	Westlands
Government
• Type	Nairobi County
• Governor	Johnson Sakaja
Area
• Land	37.6 sq mi (97.5 km2)
Elevation	5,600 ft (1,700 m)

Westlands is a mixed-use neighbourhood in Upper Parklands in Nairobi. Located 3.0 kilometres (2 mi) from Nairobi's central business district, it sits on the westerly areas of the larger Parklands area of Nairobi.

Location

Westlands is located approximately 3.2 kilometres (2 mi), by road, northwest of the central business district of Nairobi.^[1] The geographical coordinates of the neighbourhood are: 01°16'01.0"S, 36°48'42.0"E (Latitude:-1.266944; Longitude:36.811667).^[2]

Overview

Westlands is a residential district in Nairobi which houses a sizable population of upper middle class and wealthy Kenyans^[3]

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. Muthaiga, a neighbourhood to the northeast of Westlands, but within the Westlands Division of the county, is rated the most affluent and most expensive neighbourhood in the country.^[4]

Points of interest

In Westlands or near the boundaries of the neighbourhood, there are several points of interest, including the following:^[2]

UNHCR branch office in Kenya
The Sarit Centre Shopping Mall
Catholic Relief Services- East Africa Regional Office
The Ukay Shopping Mall
The Westgate Shopping Mall
The M. P. Shah Hospital, a private hospital
Unga House – An office high-rise building
Mpaka Road – Many businesses have offices on this street
USAID Towers – The headquarters of USAID in Kenya
The High Commission of Botswana to Kenya
The Embassy of Norway to Kenya
The Embassy of Sweden to Kenya
Westlands Office Park
Westlands Primary School
Datoo's Glassware Mart Ltd
An office of PricewaterhouseCoopers
Sankara Hotel
Dusit D2
Phillips Pharmaceuticals Head office
Delta Towers
Safaricom Head Office
Art Cafe Head office
Java Head office
Villa Rosa Kempinski Nairobi
Movenpick Hotel
A branch of Woolworth Stores
The Nairobi Institute of Technology

Westlands Division

Prior to 2013, a division named after Westlands was also one of the eight administrative divisions of Nairobi, which is coterminous with Nairobi City. The other divisions were Central, Dagoretti, Embakasi, Kasarani, Kibera, Makadara and Pumwani.^[5]

Areas in the Westlands Division were:

Currently, there is a constituency and a sub-county named after Westlands; Westlands Constituency is one of the 17 constituencies of Nairobi and Westlands Sub-county is one of the 11 sub-counties of Nairobi.^[6]

The postal code for Westlands is 00800^[7]

Deep Sea Settlement

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. Poverty is rife and is exacerbated by the area's poor sanitation.^[8]

In 2021, a significant part of the southern areas of the settlement was cleared to enable the construction of the long-planned Parklands section of the Ring Road.^[9]

Education

The Lycée Denis Diderot opened in Westlands as the École française à Nairobi in 1962. It moved to Kilimani in 1972.^[10] There are many other educational institutions in Westlands Division, as detailed in this reference.^[4]