What is Nairobi Point Zero?

Welcome to this new pilot episode of a new series called “The story behind….” this will be short episodes aimed at exploring not so popular landmarks and just general information on nice places to discover.
Today, we are exploring this simple monument called Galton-Fenzi memorial which is right in the middle of Nairobi town.

If I asked you, what is the distance from Nairobi to Mombasa, or Nairobi to Nakuru? You will probably give me an answer but from what point is the distance to Mombasa or Nakuru measured from?

Well, You’ve probably passed by this monument so many times if you go to huduma centre right here in teleposta building, commonly known as GPO building. But this monument holds a lot of history and importance in the past planning of Nairobi and Kenya as a whole because it can be easily described as point zero. Its from here that a lot of popular measurements have been taken. This includes the distance from Nairobi to Mombasa, athi, kajiado, Nanyuki, Moyale and even regional distances like Juba, Khartoum, Cairo and Dar es Salaam.
The monument was erected in honor of Lionel Douglas Galton-Fenzi who had established Nairobi branch of the Royal East Africa Automobile Association in 1919, now the Automobile Association of Kenya which offers driving lessons, insurance, training and other driving related services. Galton fenzi is known as the first person to drive from Nairobi to Mombasa in 1926 and after his passing in 1937, the monument was erected in 1939 in his honor. The monument is also referred to as Nairobi military stone.
So the next time you are in town, you can visit the monument for a few minutes since it’s close to a designated smoking zone but worth learning the history.

That has been it for this. See you next time and be sure to subscribe to our youtube channel for the video version of this.