Lady recounts chilling Ngong-Suswa Road ordeal, warns motorists over suspected highway trap

A section of the Ngong-Suswa Highway./HANDOUT

A lady driver popularly known on Instagram as Just Margie has raised alarm over a suspected highway trap along Suswa Road after a frightening early morning experience that she believes may point to a targeted scheme against motorists.

Just Margie shared her account on Instagram Stories, urging road users to remain vigilant, especially when travelling alone, at night or during low-traffic hours.

She said she set off from Nairobi on Thursday last week at around 6.15am, travelling with her children and their nanny, when she experienced an incident that, in retrospect, bore the hallmarks of a possible highway robbery.

“We were cruising nicely, enjoying the scenery on the Suswa Road. Then as we approached a hill, I heard a tyre burst. For a minute, I thought we carried balloons, so I kept going,” Just Margie said.

A short distance later, she noticed a stalled white car with all four tyres deflated. Moments after descending the hill, she realised one of her own tyres had also gone flat.

It was then that she discovered her spare tyre was not sufficiently inflated.

“I had no network and didn’t know where I was,” she said, placing the time of the incident at slightly past 7.30am.

In panic, she contacted her mechanic, then her husband, who advised her to seek help from a boda boda rider for directions.

“Stopped one and I was at a place called Gashagasha. So I was closer to Suswa than Ngong,” she said.

Margie said she then boarded a boda boda to Ewaso Kedong, where she managed to have the tyre inflated before continuing with her journey.

The situation took a more alarming turn later, when she received information suggesting the earlier incident may not have been accidental.

“When we got to Kisii, my sister-in-law, who had left Nairobi at 3 am, told me that they had passed the occupants (of the white car) at Suswa, and they were so distressed as they had their tyres burst and robbed their belongings,” she said.

“Meaning, my tyre didn’t burst by mistake; it was a set up in that area. The good thing is I didn’t leave at 5 am as I had planned. I left at 6.15 am and passed that stretch at 7.30 am when it was daytime.”

Margie cautioned motorists using the route to remain alert, particularly in isolated stretches where assistance may not be readily available.

“Fellow Suswa Road users, be very vigilant. I hear the carjacking incidents are increasing so exercise caution driving when it’s dark,” she said.

The newly completed Ngong–Suswa Road has increasingly become a preferred alternative route, offering motorists a way to bypass the often congested and dreadful, winding Mai Mahiu escarpment while linking Nairobi and Ngong to the South Rift and Nyanza regions.

The road is also popular for its scenic views and has been embraced by passenger service vehicles for its efficiency, cutting travel time and costs to destinations such as Narok, Bomet and Kisii.

While there have been no widely documented major robbery incidents reported along the route, sections of the road—particularly towards Suswa—remain sparsely populated and cut through vast stretches of wilderness, conditions that can expose motorists to security risks, especially at night or in the early morning hours.