Ngong Hills

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The Ngong Hills are southwest at Nairobi, along the Great Rift Valley (click map to enlarge)

The Ngong Hills are peaks in a ridge along the Great Rift Valley, located southwest near Nairobi, in southern Kenya. The word "Ngong" is a Maasai word meaning "knuckles" ^[1] due to the 4 hill peaks of the ridge, which stands alone rising from the plain around Nairobi. The Ngong Hills, from the eastside slopes, overlook the Nairobi National Park game reserve and, off to the north, the city of Nairobi. The Ngong Hills, from the westside slopes, overlook the Great Rift Valley dropping over 4,000 feet below, where nomadic Maasai villages have been developed.

The elevation of Ngong is 2061 meters (6765 feet) in altitude. ^[2]

During the years of British colonial rule, the area around the Ngong Hills was a major settler farming region, and many traditional colonial houses are still seen in the area.

In the 1985 film Out of Africa, the four peaks of the Ngong Hills appear in the background of several scenes near Karen Blixen's house. Local residents still reported seeing lions in the Hills during the 1990s.

The solitary grave of Denys Finch Hatton, marked by an obelisk and garden, is located on the eastern slopes of the Ngong Hills, overlooking the vast game reserve.

There is a walking trail along the tops of the Ngong Hills, and local residents have sometimes held Sunday church services on the southern peak, overlooking the Great Rift Valley.

Near the hills is the town of Ngong.

[edit] Notes

^ "FOUR DAYS - OLOGASAILE / MAGADI(BEAS 08)" (tour), Government of Kenya, 2006, BreakawayExpedition.com webpage: BreakawayExpedition-Tour.
^ "Ngong, Kenya Page" (statistics), Falling Rain Genomics, Inc., 2004, FallingRain.com webpage: FallingRainCom-Ngong.