Limuru is a town located on the eastern edge of the Great Rift Valley about 30 miles North-West from Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya. Limuru residents rely mostly on farming and a shoe factory for employment. Early in the British colonial period (from the 1890s) Europeans settled in the area due to its proximity to Nairobi, the railway, its fertile land and pleasant weather. The tea plantations established around Limuru from 1903 onwards were the foundation of Kenya's largest export industry, which produces some of the world's highest quality tea.