VIP ROOFTOP: Inside River Road party den where only a tipple, a chew and a tune matter

Here, you've got to brace yourself for a night that can quickly descend into unscheduled chaos, as nothing is done according to plan - and things quickly evolve as the high kicks in and the crowds continue to haphazardly gather. 

Located along Nairobi's River Road, VIP Rooftop has become the talk of town as videos from this place go viral one after the other and amassed a large following on TikTok.

VIP Rooftop appears welcoming to all; but first, you've got to shed all your inhibitions if you're looking to have a good time and knock off a boring evening.

Here, the brash, the brutal and the brave survive. And things erupt with intensity and unchecked ferocity.

In one corner, buried under a cloud of tainted smoke, there will be a group seated, appearing a little menacing and, from the look of things, too plastered to talk to or engage.

A few tables down, there are two more groups helplessly caught up in an epileptic stupor as they dig through thready bags of miraa and thrust a cocktail of assorted substances into specific corners of their mouths. 

Four rows down, there's a dazed lone dancer who has been precariously holding onto their beer glass for the last two hours, he appears to intermittently change between dancing and causing a ruckus, and he's intently focused on any waitress who swooshes past his path.

As the neon lights dazzle and flicker, the DJ does his best to arouse the masses as Reggae tunes leave the crowd in a bizarre trance, some staring bewilderedly across the room, appearing to dance, chew, meditate and plot all at the same time.

As the night wears on, no one quite prepares you for the rhapsodic bursts of exuberance and animalistic revelry that follow shortly after - at this juncture, crowds pour into the dance floor, purposely sealed off from all corners, looking like a wrestling cage, but this time, for dance zombies.

Frequently oscillating between 'Mapangale' and Tony Tuff's 'Ram Dance Style', the DJ of the day whips up a whirlpool that quickly sends everyone into a maddened frenzy, as the revellers take turns to face each other, cheeks bursting with khat, eyes bulging and faces stuck in frozen stares, the moment too euphoric, too ethereal, to dare interrupt. It is quite mesmerizing.

The prolonged dance regimen that follows soon begins to mimic a ritual, as everyone seems to have lost track of time, either too stoned, too drunk or too deep in enjoyment, arms fluttering all over the air, bodies twisted in spooky contortions.

And unlike in some other establishments, where tables are littered with outrageously expensive cognacs and rare Single Malts, at VIP Rooftop, you could totter in with less than Ksh.300 and walk out properly hammered, walking into walls, knocking down a bar stool, missing a staircase and smashing into doors but with a permanent smile on your face.

Rooftop's online popularity, too, is something of a marvel - on TikTok, the club's official page boasts an impressive 124,000 followers with most of the videos quickly racking up millions of views in a matter of days.

It is also the place where dance squads gather to try out their latest quirky dance routines - a soft idyllic paradise for kids whose machete-wielding moves enchant even those who are opposed to the moves citing rising cases of femicide.

So enthralling are the Sunday night reggae rave-ups that when Eric Omondi showed up with his girlfriend for a little jig, no one seemed to pay attention to him or be star-struck - everyone remained immersed in their world, where only a tipple, a chew and a tune matters.

Everyone is welcome to the VIP Rooftop, but you've got to arrive prepared for an exhaustively lengthy dance floor buffoonery.

It is the ultimate definition of disco. The perfect paragon of a shamelessly good time.