Ngong is a town near the

Ngong Hills The Ngong Hills are peaks in a ridge along the Great Rift Valley, located southwest near Nairobi, in southern Kenya. The word "Ngong" is an Anglicization of a Maasai phrase "enkong'u emuny" meaning rhinoceros spring, and this name derives from ...

along the

Great Rift Valley The Great Rift Valley () is a series of contiguous geographic depressions, approximately 6,000 or in total length, the definition varying between sources, that runs from the southern Turkish Hatay Province in Asia, through the Red Sea, to Moz ...

within

Kajiado County Kajiado County is a county in the former Rift Valley Province of Kenya. As of 2019, Kajiado county spanned an area of 21,292.7 km2, with a recorded population of 1,117,840. The county borders Nairobi and to its south it borders the Tanza ...

, located in the southwest of

Nairobi Nairobi is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai language, Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a ...

, in southern

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

. The word ''"Ngong"'' is a

Maasai Maasai may refer to: *Maasai people *Maasai language *Maasai mythology * MAASAI (band) See also * Masai (disambiguation) Masai may refer to: *Masai, Johor, a town in Malaysia * Masai Plateau, a plateau in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India *Maasai peopl ...

word derived from the word "enkong'u" meaning both "the 'eye'" and "''eye of water''" or thus ''spring'' of water. The original place name is ''ɛnkɔŋʉ́ ɛ́ mʉny'', literally ''the eye of the rhinoceros'' but functionally ''Rhinoceros Spring''; an alternative name is ''ɔlchɔ́rrɔ ɛ́ mʉny'' (''olchorro'' is a synonymn of ''enkong'u''). ''Ngong'' is the anglicization of ''ɛnkɔŋʉ́''. Seemingly the British found ''enkong'u e muñ'' too difficult to pronounce. A widespread

false etymology A false etymology (fake etymology or pseudo-etymology) is a false theory about the origin or derivation of a specific word or phrase. When a false etymology becomes a popular belief in a cultural/linguistic community, it is a folk etymology (or po ...

is linked with the knuckle shape of the hills. The Ngong Hills, (known to the Maasai as 'Oloolaiser") from the eastside slopes, overlook the

Nairobi National Park Nairobi National Park is a national park in Kenya that was established in 1946 about south of Nairobi. It is fenced on three sides, whereas the open southern boundary allows migrating wildlife to move between the park and the adjacent Kitenge ...

game reserve and, off to the north, the city of

. The Ngong Hills, from the westward slopes, overlook the Great Rift Valley dropping over 4,000 feet below, where nomadic

live.

Demographics

, the population of Ngong Town consisting of Enchorro-Emunyi and Ngong Township locations was 25,866. The elevation of Ngong Town is 1,961 meters in altitude, but the altitude of the hills is about 2,460 meters above sea level. Ngong was the central town of Ngong division when

was a district.

Transport

Ngong has a train station on the Nairobi–Malaba Standard Gauge Railway, which was inaugurated in October 2019.

References

{{First and second-level administrative divisions of Kenya Populated places in Kajiado County