The Panari Hotel building on Mombasa Road in Nairobi, with the hotel name on its glass-fronted tower; the Solar Ice Rink is inside the complex.Photo: Nairobi123 · Source · CC BY-SA 4.0The ice at the Solar Ice Rink in Nairobi seen from the boards, with a few skaters far across the sheet under the hall's roof.Photo: The Panari Hotel Nairobi · Source
East Africa's first ice rink, open since 2005
The Solar Ice Rink at the Panari Hotel in Nairobi opened on 16 December 2005 and was billed as East Africa's first ice rink. At about 1,393 square metres it was described as the largest of Africa's three ice rinks, the others being in Cairo and Johannesburg, and it can hold up to 200 skaters at once.
Keeping real ice in equatorial heat takes work: the rink held its ice at a constant minus 25 degrees Celsius with the air in the hall at 12 degrees. The hotel calls it the only one of its kind in East and Central Africa, and in 2005 its general manager said Kenyan schools had already asked about setting up ice hockey teams.
Hockey remains part of the rink's life. It is the home of the Kenya Ice Lions hockey team, and the hotel offers both learn-to-skate and ice hockey lessons designed for players of all levels.
Before you head out.
Admission, rentals and arrival details, researched from official rink information. Source checks stay current for 30 days.
Admission
The Solar Ice Rink charges KES 1,200 per one-hour session for children up to 12 and KES 1,500 for everyone aged 13 and over, with skating boots included.