Tala is a town in

Machakos County Machakos County is one of the 47 counties of Kenya, which came into being because of the devolved system of governance occasioned by the 2010 constitution of Kenya. The country's first administrative headquarters are in Machakos Town, which is ...

, located in the lower eastern region of Kenya and about 56 kilometres east of the Kenyan capital,

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper h ...

. It is usually classified as being one town with Kangundo, due to their close proximity. It is 3,000 ft above sea level. Tala is a

location In geography, location or place are used to denote a region (point, line, or area) on Earth's surface or elsewhere. The term ''location'' generally implies a higher degree of certainty than ''place'', the latter often indicating an entity with an ...

of Matungulu division. It also part of Matungulu Constituency.

People/Languages

The main language spoken is Kikamba although the people who live there understand both Swahili and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Kangundo-Tala

Officially Kangundo is located in Nairobi Metro and its population when combined with Tala is the 8th largest of any urban area in

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

. Tala is part of

Kangundo Kangundo is a town in Kenya's Machakos County in the lower eastern region of Kenya. Kangundo-Tala Officially Kangundo- Tala's population is the 9th largest of any urban area in Kenya. Tala is part of Kangundo town council. Towns in Machakos C ...

town council. The CDF office of Matungulu Constituency is also located in the town.

Towns in Machakos County

Economy

Many of its residents are

Kamba Kamba may refer to: *Kamba people The Kamba or Akamba (sometimes called Wakamba) people are a Bantu ethnic group who predominantly live in the area of Kenya stretching from Nairobi to Tsavo and north to Embu, in the southern part of the f ...

s who practice

subsistence farming Subsistence agriculture occurs when farmers grow food crops to meet the needs of themselves and their families on smallholdings. Subsistence agriculturalists target farm output for survival and for mostly local requirements, with little or no su ...

on rural farms. The land holding size is relatively small and population density is high. Open-air markets are located in downtown Tala and main market days are Tuesday and Friday. Farmers come to sell their wares on this days which include paw paws, bananas, arrow roots, cowpea leaves (a vegetable delicacy in the area), maize and beans. Livestock trading is also a major enterprise during the market days. Crops grown are mostly

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. The ...

, bean, sorghum, millet, sweet potatoes,

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onio ...

s, bananas and others which can cope with the tropical climate of the area. Apart from the mentioned crops, farmers also grow coffee as a cash crop. Initially, the returns were good but farmers keep on complaining of low prices which has led to the neglect of the crop. However, farmers who mill their coffee and take it directly to KPCU make good profits.

Climate

There are two rainy seasons during the year from November–January and again from March–April. February and May are the main harvesting periods and June–August are the colder months.

Education

Several schools exist in the town, including Tala High School, Mackenzie Education Centre – Tala, Tala Girls' High School, Kwatombe Primary School, Tala Boys' Primary School and Children's Home, Tala Academy and Holy Rosary College (formerly, Tala Secretarial College). A police post is also located in the town. In October 2007, a number of students from King George V School in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

took part in a charity and service trip to Tala Boys' Primary School and Children's Home, where they spent days interacting with the children, renovating the classrooms and building pavements for those in need. Holy Rosary College is located roughly 1.5 kilometers west of downtown. It is an all-girls college (roughly 70-90 students) and classes run year-round. There are several programs offered including: Information Technology (IT), business administration and secretarial. It is accredited to the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology. The courses offered in conjunction with JKUAT include, Business Information Technology, Business Administration, Public Relations, Information Technology and Bridging Certificate Course in Maths. It is also a Cisco Local Academy. At present the college has about 200 students.

Nairobi Metro

Machakos County is within Greater Nairobi which consists of 4 out of 47 counties in Kenya but the area generates about 60% of the nations wealth.http://www.nairobimetro.go.ke/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=43&Itemid=90. The counties are: Source
NairobiMetroKenya Census

References

{{First and second-level administrative divisions of Kenya Populated places in Eastern Province (Kenya) Machakos County