City Market
Art Deco trading hall of vaulted, hangar-like ceilings where haggling over curios and cuts of meat is half the fun.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to City Market in Nairobi treats haggling as the real sport played under its vaulted, hangar-like roof, raised in the early 1930s to replace an older, plague-scarred market nearby. It follows the unwritten rules traders and shoppers use on curio stalls selling carved giraffes and soapstone, and the building's own path from colonial fruit-and-vegetable hall to national monument saved from redevelopment by traders and conservationists. Along the way it moves through the butchers' stalls where cuts are haggled over for a Sunday nyama choma feast. Listen for how the bargaining ripples down the aisle as you walk it.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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