What Eldoret's Estate Names Mean

Compiled by William Kiptoo, with additions from members of The Wonders of Sergoit Hills Facebook group welcome.

First shared in The Wonders of Sergoit Hills Facebook group on 27 September 2024.

  • Langas: from a Maasai family name, Ole Lankas.
  • Ol-Tebes: a Maasai word for the acacia tree.
  • Kapseret: the Kalenjin word for couch grass.
  • Kipkaren: "a place of weapons," believed to come from a time when the Nandi and Maasai buried their weapons after a fierce battle as a sign of truce.
  • Munyaka: Kikuyu for luck. The first residents were displaced Kikuyu forest squatters from the Musekekwa and Sabor forests in Elgeyo Marakwet.
  • Pioneer: named after the Boer pioneers who settled in Eldoret in the early colonial period.
  • Huruma: borrowed from Huruma Estate in Nairobi, after migrants from the capital.
  • Kamukunji: also borrowed from Nairobi's Kamukunji, and first settled by railway workers.
  • Roadblock: after a roadblock that once stood there (often misspelt "Rood Block").
  • Miti Moja: Swahili for "one tree," after a solitary tree that served as a landmark.
  • Tairi Mbili: "two tyres," after two vehicle tyres set up by the road as a marker.
  • Maili Nne: "four miles," its distance from the town centre.
  • Maili Tisa: "nine miles," likewise.
  • Kahoya: after the Kahoya construction company once based there.
  • Jerusalem: after the first shop in the area, called Jerusalem.
  • Action: from the Action Land Buying Company, which subdivided and sold plots there.
  • Subaru: after the estate's first shop, Subaru. A newer estate near the Eldoret War Cemetery.
  • Hawaii: after a popular nightclub of that name in the 1990s.
  • California: after the first shop there.
  • Mtungi: after an early shop called Mtungi.
  • Peris: after Mama Peris's shop.
  • Barabara ya Kwanza: Swahili for "the first road," the first road after the Chepkoilel junction.
  • Better Farm: after a shop called Better Farm.
  • Annex: after the Moi University Law School Annex nearby.
  • Rehema: after the Rehema Land Buying Company, which settled the area.

See also Eldoret Town Estates and Why Is It Called Mwisho wa Lami?

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