Gravel & Grit Moto started in a Kilimani garage with two bikes and a laminated map. The founder, Kofi Mensah, had spent years riding courier routes across Nairobi and burning weekends on trails outside the city. When overlanders kept asking where to rent a proper adventure bike — not a city commuter with road tyres — he bought a used Africa Twin, bolted on a GPS mount, and drew the first trail passport route to Lake Naivasha.
The trail passport idea came from stamp books at national park gates: physical proof that you were actually there, not just scrolling someone else's ride report. The digital version pings checkpoints along the route and logs them to your rider profile. Riders return bikes filthy, which Kofi took as a compliment. He started photographing every returned bike and printing the dirtiest ones as framed trophies for the shop wall.
The dust-trophy wall is now the first thing riders see when they walk in. Five years and eight bikes later, the garage moved to a proper yard on Ngong Road, but the laminated map is still on the wall.