Inside Luxury Karen Country Club Which Became Overnight KOT Trend

The Karen Country Club in Nairobi was little-known to Kenyans until its decision to open up its doors to the public made the premises go viral on Twitter on Tuesday, August 30.

The club, which features a golf course, was initially limited to members affiliated with it. The Residences, the club's modern cottages and apartments that sit on the edge of the 225-acre facility had offered accommodation to club members and their guests.

The Residences, according to a Business Daily report, was recently opened to the public, a move which signifies its attempt to break into Kenya's hospitality industry as a means of boosting its earnings through various ways.

A cottage at the Karen Country Club in Nairobi. /INSTAGRAM.KAREN COUNTRY CLUB

Previously, private golf clubs were only limited to income from green fees, membership fees, food, and beverage sales, and shop sales to fund themselves before a mismatch between the ageing golf clique and the new younger memberships coupled with harsh economic times forced them to look for other ways to make money.

The Karen Country Club, according to its website, is a family-oriented club, founded in 1937 and prides itself in being one of the oldest golf clubs in Kenya.

A large part of the 18-hole course was built on the former coffee estate developed by the Danish pioneer Karen Blixen, whose life and times were depicted in the lyrical film Out of Africa. The shade trees from her coffee plantation still dominate parts of the golf course, 80 years after they were planted.

The course is superbly maintained with greens built to the Professional Golf Association (PGA) standards and has been host to the prestigious Kenya Open golf tournament for the past three consecutive years. Despite Nairobi`s temperate climate, one can play golf all through a year in comfort, an intangible asset that few golf courses in the world can claim.

The setting of the golf course is serene; with the Ngong hills as a backdrop, a rich variety of trees, indigenous forest, flowering shrubs and fauna. The wetlands are a distinct environmental feature of the course and are also home to thousands of birds and dik-diks.

The club has a range of amenities to cater to children, young adults, adults and seniors. They include an 18-hole championship golf course, driving range and practice facilities, casual and formal dining outlets, meeting and conference rooms as well as unique event grounds – Wetlands,

Also featured include the Mulwa Dam, a wellness spa, a swimming pool, a state-of-the-art fitness center, bowling green, squash courts and tennis courts, all of which are available to over 4,000 members, 800 of whom are golf members.

"Karen Country Club acknowledges that to enhance the quality of services to its members, it has to invest in its staff. We are proud to have a team of motivated workforce committed to providing service excellence in the course of duty.

"Our Team goes the extra mile to ensure that both members and guests are provided with an unsurpassed level of service at all times. The Club has sound employment policies that govern employees in their work environment, ensuring we remain competitive in the market," the club states, adding that it has a staff base of 170 employees spread out across all areas of the club.

To spend on its membership, one has to dig deeper into their wallet. Membership fees for a single member are reported to be Ksh450,000 and Ksh800,000 for a couple.

To access golfing facilities, one would need Ksh150,000 for a single-person membership and Ksh300,000 for a double membership. Junior members between ages 18 and 25 would part with Ksh84,000 and Ksh75,000 as membership and golfing fees respectively.