NAIVASHA: KENYA'S COLONIAL SIN CITY

The World Rally Championship’s Safari Rally Kenya 2025 is in full swing. The annual event, which wraps up Sunday, takes place in Naivasha, attracting thousands of fans.

But pleasure seekers used to come here long before the racing competition drew in the crowds. In the heyday of the British Empire, Naivasha was known as an African Las Vegas. Cocaine-fuelled orgies, wife-swapping parties, crimes of passion and hedonism were standard fare for a group of mostly British aristocrats and adventurers who settled near the Aberdare Mountain Range between the 1920s and 1940s. Their decadent lifestyle earned them the nickname ‘the Happy Valley set’ and is the subject of films and books depicting their antics, such as White Mischief.

African Stream's Wambura Mwai paid a visit to find out more.