50 free Nairobi trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Nairobi began in 1899 as a railway depot on a swamp that the Maasai called the place of cool waters, replaced Mombasa as capital within eight years and is now the financial hub of East Africa, a city of more than five million with a national park inside its boundaries and a UN headquarters in its northern suburbs. These 50 questions cover the history, geography and culture of Kenya's capital: the chief engineer who picked the site, the plague that burned Bazaar Street, the Norwegian-designed conference centre with a public helipad, the 1998 embassy bombing memorial, Uhuru Park and the Nobel laureate who saved it, Kibera and Eastleigh, Out of Africa and the suburb named after its author, matatus and their yellow stripe, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, the Standard Gauge Railway to Mombasa, Gor Mahia and the Safari Rally. Easy questions stick to the country, the name and the famous park; the hard ones ask about the first town planner, the Arboretum's founding year, the elevation and the city's twin towns. Every answer is cited to a page we checked, with a short explanation so you learn something even when you miss. Play it solo or print it for a geography night.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Nairobi is the capital of which country?
Kenya
It became the capital of the East Africa Protectorate in 1907, eight years after the railway arrived.
Q 02From which people's language does the name Nairobi come?
Maasai
Enkare Nyirobi referred to the cold stream that ran through the area.
Q 03Nairobi is the only capital city in the world with what inside its boundaries?
A national park
Giraffes graze with the skyline behind them, a favourite photo of visiting tourists.
Q 04Nairobi was founded in 1898 as a rail depot on which line?
Uganda–Kenya Railway
Chief engineer George Whitehouse liked its elevation, climate and water supply.
Q 05Which city did Nairobi replace as capital in 1907?
Mombasa
It had already taken over from Machakos as headquarters of Ukamba province in 1899.
Q 06Which railway engineer chose the Nairobi site?
George Whitehouse
Officials complained the spot was too flat, badly drained and infertile.
Q 07Who designed the first town layout for the railway depot in 1898?
Arthur Church
It had just two streets, Victoria Street and Station Street, plus ten avenues.
Q 08On what date did the railway reach Nairobi?
30 May 1899
Early years were plagued by malaria, and there was at least one attempt to move the town.
Q 09Bazaar Street was rebuilt in the early 1900s after an outbreak of what?
Plague
The original town was burned; the street is now called Biashara Street.
Q 10In which year was Nairobi declared a municipality?
1919
By 1921 it had 24,000 residents, about half of them native Africans.
Q 11In which year did Kenya gain independence, keeping Nairobi as capital?
1963
The Lancaster House Conferences set out the transition.
Q 12Which landmark building, with the city's only public helipad, opened in September 1973?
The KICC
The Kenyatta International Conference Centre's tower is a cylinder of stacked cuboids around a concrete core.
Q 13The KICC was co-designed by an architect from which country?
Norway
Karl Henrik Nøstvik worked with Kenyan architect David Mutiso on the 28-storey tower.
Q 14Nairobi's main international airport is named after whom?
Q 21Which Nobel laureate fought to save Karura Forest from development?
Wangari Maathai
She also led the campaign that stopped a 62-storey party headquarters being built in Uhuru Park.
Q 22What does 'Uhuru' in Uhuru Park mean in Swahili?
Freedom
The park borders the CBD and is a centre for rallies and outdoor speeches.
Q 23Which former president wanted a 62-storey party headquarters built in Uhuru Park?
Daniel arap Moi
The Kenya African National Union tower was stopped after Maathai's campaign.
In which year was the Nairobi Arboretum founded as a forestry trial site?
Jomo Kenyatta
The first president opened its new terminal in March 1978, less than five months before his death.
Q 15Which event in August 1998 is commemorated by a memorial park in downtown Nairobi?
The US Embassy bombing
The embassy was later rebuilt in the suburbs after the attack by Al-Qaeda.
Q 16The Thika Superhighway, opened in 2012, expanded the road to how many lanes?
Eight
The 50.4 km project cost about KES 31 billion and was built in three phases.
Q 17The Standard Gauge Railway opened in 2017 links Nairobi with which port?
Mombasa
About 90 percent of the funding came from China; the Nairobi Terminus is at Syokimau.
Q 18Which Nairobi governor was impeached and removed in December 2020?
Mike Sonko
Assembly speaker Benson Mutura was sworn in as acting governor four days later.
Q 19Which high ground to the west is the most prominent feature of the Nairobi area?
Ngong Hills
Mount Kenya lies to the north and Kilimanjaro to the south-east.
Q 20Roughly how high above sea level is Nairobi?
1,795 m
Evenings can drop to 9 °C in June and July despite the city's near-equatorial position.
1907
E. Batiscombe's 30-hectare reserve now holds more than 350 tree types near State House.
Q 25Which UN bodies have their headquarters in Nairobi?
UN Environment and UN-Habitat
The UN complex sits in the northern suburb of Gigiri.
Q 26In which suburb is the UN headquarters located?
Gigiri
The New York Times also keeps its Nairobi bureau there.
Q 27Which Nairobi neighbourhood is nicknamed 'Little Mogadishu'?
Eastleigh
Many Somali immigrants have settled there.
Q 28Which Nairobi slum, one of the continent's largest, was the main setting of a 2005 le Carré film?
Kibera
Its name comes from the Nubian word for forest or jungle.
Q 29The name of the city's largest slum comes from a Nubian word meaning what?
Jungle
The settlement covers about two square kilometres of government land.
Q 30Which writer, resident near Nairobi from 1917 to 1931, gave her name to a suburb?
Karen Blixen
She lived in the area from 1917 to 1931 and wrote Out of Africa under the name Isak Dinesen.