Kitui to Machakos: How to Travel from Kitui to Machakos

The Kitui to Machakos route is one of the busiest in Ukambani. If you stand at any point on the way (say, at Kwa Vonza or at Masii) and count the numbers of matatus moving from Kitui to Machakos, you will be amazed. It is like there is a Kitui Machakos matatu passing every 2 or so minutes. But this is understandable, given that Kitui town and Machakos town are Ukambani’s capitals and as such, there are lots of people traveling in between the two centers.

To travel from Kitui to Machakos, you drive along the B7 road, past Kalundu/Riverside then turn left at the Syongila junction. You then drive all the way to Kwa Vonza, where you to take the Kitui Machakos road and drive all the way to Machakos.

The journey between Kitui and Machakos is likely to take you around 2 hours (which can go up to 3 hours if you are using a matatu or bus which has to keep on picking and dropping passengers along the way). The last time I checked, the fare between Kitui and Machakos was in the 300 to 400 shillings range -- April 2020.

If you go to the Kitui main bus park at any time of the day, you are likely to find many Machakos bound matatus. Some are under Kinatwa sacco, others are under Umowa sacco and a host of other saccos. There is also the option of going to Kalundu and boarding one of the Machakos bound matatus that operate on ‘mrengo’ basis from that stage. That is also where you are likely to find the Matatus that operate under the Kinathi sacco banner.

Some of the towns you are likely to pass by on your way to Machakos from Kitui include Kwa Vonza (which is home to the South Eastern Kenya University -- Seku), Wamunyu, Mwala and Masii before finally jetting into Machakos.