Emali


Emali is a fast-growing town located along the Mombasa-Nairobi highway in Kenya's Makueni County. It is a popular resting place for truck drivers ferrying goods from the Mombasa port to inland destinations such as Nairobi, Kampala, Kigali and even the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is known as "the town that never sleeps" due to its vibrant night life. The town is inhabited by the Kamba and Maasai tribes.

Geography

Emali is on flat land and has red volcanic soil. Crops grown there include maize, beans and pigeon peas. Currently, the town is experiencing massive infrastructure development both by the national government and the county governments of Kajiado and Makueni. It experiences a warm climate throughout the year and two rainy seasons in October and March.

Transport

The old one meter gauge railway passes through Emali. One of the nine stations on the new Mombasa–Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway is also located in Emali. There are also two intersecting roads; one from Emali to Wote and another to Oloitokitok.

Economy

There are two major supermarkets, Mulleys and Eden Mart. There are several petrol stations: Shell, Total, and other independent stations. There is a mosque and several churches as well as hotels and restaurants.
Financial institutions with a foothold in the town include Kenya Commercial Bank, Kenya Women Finance Trust, Sidian Bank and Posta Bank. Emali owes much of its prosperity to the fact that it sits at a cross roads and straddles an area occupied by two communities practicing different economic pursuits, the pastoral Maasai and the crop cultivating Kamba.