It is approximately 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) south of the central business district of Nairobi.

Located approximately 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) south of the Nairobi CBD, Mukuru slums are predominantly a low-income informal settlement.

Very few homes have access to electricity and up to twenty families might share a communal water tap and latrine.

[4] The area is considered unsafe due to the air pollution caused by incineration of varied waste, as well as the stench from the unauthorised landfills in the slums.

[5][6] Fires are also common and containing them has always been a subject of debate; mainly because the makeshifts are built close to one another and their narrow or no alleys between them.