There are several construction sites and a variety of sleek cars on the streets. Top international brands and large supermarkets have already set camp there. There are also lots of hardware shops and I was told the construction sector is the biggest employer here.
The streets, though clean and well-tarmacked, are dusty – much like those in Kampala. I was told the last thing one can do here is farming because the soils are naturally bad.
Kitengela is such a busy town with hundreds of boda bodas and tuk-tuks (Three wheeled bikes) roaming the streets.
CULTURE CLASH
At this U-Course restaurant where we settled for lunch, the outdoors setting suggested something else. The aroma of grilled nyama choma filled the air, but I craved something lighter.
Rice? “No,” came the answer from the chef as my hosts bemusedly looked on.
Matoke? “No.” Posho? [A firm] “No sir.” It was quite a shocker.
It soon dawned on me that there was no food here as we are used to in Kampala.
“This is the hub of nyama choma; so, you better be ready for a treat,” one of my hosts advised.
It took 50 minutes to have it ready and, with ugali on the side, it was time to dig in. As good and refreshingly tasty as the nyama choma was, I did not actually warm up to the ugali, much to the disappointment of my hosts.
Ugali is a popular Kenyan delicacy very similar to our posho, but it tastes like grade three maize flour – the kind fed to chicken.
A stroll through the streets indeed showed that Kitengela is the nyama choma hub, because there are quite many restaurants advertising how they have the most tasty nyama choma.
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