Kiambethu Tea Farm Tour, Limuru | Baecation

A private saloon car out to Limuru, a slow walk through a century old tea farm, and a proper lunch on the veranda before you head back.

Kiambethu was bought and planted in 1910 by AB McDonell, the first person to grow, make and sell tea commercially in Kenya, an industry that has gone on to become one of the country's biggest exports. Five generations later, his granddaughter Fiona Vernon still runs the farm, and she or a member of her family opens most tours with the story of how it started.

The visit runs at an unhurried pace. You arrive around eleven, hear the history over a cup of tea or coffee, then walk out through the tea fields and into indigenous forest, where a local guide points out the Colobus monkeys and explains how different plants have traditionally been used.

Lunch follows on the veranda, a three course buffet with vegetables from the garden and cream from the farm's own herd, all while looking out over the tea fields to the Ngong Hills.

A private saloon car collects you from your Nairobi home or hotel for the drive out, about forty five minutes each way, waits through the visit, and brings you back.

One thing worth knowing before you book. Kiambethu only runs tours Thursday through Sunday, and the farm needs your booking confirmed the evening before, so this is not a same day plan.