{"id":18230,"date":"2025-09-01T15:04:37","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T15:04:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/?p=18230"},"modified":"2025-09-01T15:05:17","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T15:05:17","slug":"headline-point-zero-nairobis-historic-monument-mistaken-for-a-devil-worship-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/?p=18230","title":{"rendered":"Headline: \u201cPoint Zero: Nairobi\u2019s Historic Monument Mistaken for a Devil Worship Site\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>You haven\u2019t truly arrived in Nairobi until your journey ends here.<\/strong><br>Many visitors\u2014and even locals\u2014don\u2019t consider their trip to Kenya\u2019s capital city complete until they visit one of its most overlooked landmarks: <strong>Point Zero<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"470\" src=\"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/inbound4203731880474855867.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18231\" srcset=\"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/inbound4203731880474855867.jpg 640w, https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/inbound4203731880474855867-300x220.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"853\" src=\"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/inbound1766675631187798692.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18232\" srcset=\"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/inbound1766675631187798692.jpg 640w, https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/inbound1766675631187798692-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Located at the junction of <strong>Koinange Street and Kenyatta Avenue<\/strong>, this modest monument is far more than a stone in the cityscape. Known also as the <strong>Nairobi Military Stone<\/strong>, Point Zero marks the historic spot from which <strong>all road distances from Nairobi were traditionally measured<\/strong>. In many ways, it is the heart of Kenya\u2019s transportation history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1926, <strong>Lionel Douglas Galton-Fenzi<\/strong>, a British settler, motoring pioneer, and founder of the <strong>Royal East Africa Automobile Association<\/strong> (now the <strong>Automobile Association of Kenya<\/strong>), placed a stone at this very location before embarking on a daring journey: the <strong>first-ever drive from Nairobi to Mombasa<\/strong> in a Riley car. This was a monumental feat at a time when motorable roads were virtually nonexistent in Kenya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"461\" src=\"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/inbound1645278314419982091.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18234\" srcset=\"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/inbound1645278314419982091.jpg 700w, https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/inbound1645278314419982091-300x198.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"853\" src=\"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/inbound2302179782114457878.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18233\" srcset=\"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/inbound2302179782114457878.jpg 640w, https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/inbound2302179782114457878-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Following his death in 1937, a monument was erected in his honor in 1939 at the site, celebrating his achievements and contribution to the development of road travel in the region. The AA Kenya he founded in 1919 still operates today, offering essential services like driver training, insurance, and road safety advocacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But despite its deep historical roots, <strong>Point Zero remains misunderstood by many Nairobians<\/strong>. Over time, <strong>myths and misconceptions<\/strong> have crept in. Some deeply religious residents mistakenly view the monument as a <strong>site of satanic worship<\/strong>, often avoiding it or rejecting any conversation about it as &#8220;devilish.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This couldn\u2019t be further from the truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Point Zero is not a shrine to superstition\u2014it is a monument to progress.<\/strong> It represents a pivotal moment in Kenya\u2019s journey toward modern transportation and connectivity. Although the <strong>original stone<\/strong> placed by Galton-Fenzi now resides inside the nearby <strong>Nairobi Gallery<\/strong>, the monument outside still stands as the official spot from which distances across East Africa were once measured. Its location was slightly adjusted to accommodate the gallery museum, but its meaning remains intact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So next time you&#8217;re passing by <strong>on your way to GPO<\/strong>, pause for a moment. Look at the stone that started it all. Thanks to a recent <strong>refurbishment by the Nairobi County Government<\/strong>, this historic landmark is once again beginning to catch the attention it so rightly deserves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s <strong>rewrite the narrative<\/strong>\u2014not with fear and fiction, but with <strong>facts and pride<\/strong>. This is not a site of worship, satanic or otherwise. It is a <strong>symbol of how far we\u2019ve come<\/strong>\u2014literally and figuratively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Story by Burton, Special Features Writer at GoodmoryKenya News, based in Vihiga and traveling extensively across Kenya to bring untold stories to light<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>: You haven\u2019t truly arrived in Nairobi until your journey ends here.Many visitors\u2014and even locals\u2014don\u2019t consider their trip to Kenya\u2019s capital city complete until they visit one of its most overlooked landmarks: Point Zero. Located at the junction of Koinange Street and Kenyatta Avenue, this modest monument is far more than a stone in the &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":18236,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-tie-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18230"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18230\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18235,"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18230\/revisions\/18235"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}