Nakuru (nicknamed Nax) is a city in the Rift Valley region of Kenya. It is the capital of

Nakuru County Nakuru County is a county in Kenya. It is county number 32 out of the 47 Kenyan counties. Nakuru County is a host to Kenya's Fourth City – Nakuru City. On 1 December 2021, President Uhuru Kenyatta awarded a City Charter status to Nakuru, ran ...

, and it is the fourth largest city in Kenya and the largest in the

Rift Valley A rift valley is a linear shaped lowland between several highlands or mountain ranges produced by the action of a geologic rift. Rifts are formed as a result of the pulling apart of the lithosphere due to extensional tectonics. The linear ...

region. As of 2019, Nakuru had an urban population of 570,674, making it the largest urban center in the Rift Valley, above

Eldoret Eldoret is a city in the Rift Valley region of Kenya. It serves as the capital of Uasin Gishu County. Located in western Kenya and lying south of the Cherangani Hills, the local elevation varies from about at the Eldoret International Air ...

Uasin Gishu County Uasin Gishu County is one of the 47 counties of Kenya located in the former Rift Valley Province. Eldoret city has the county's largest population centre as well as its administrative and commercial centre. It is bordered by Elgeyo-Marakwet to t ...

. The city lies along the Nairobi–Nakuru Highway, from

Nairobi Nairobi is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai language, Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a ...

, the

capital city A capital city, or just capital, is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state (polity), state, province, department (administrative division), department, or other administrative division, subnational division, usually as its ...

of Kenya.

History

Jules Leclercq- Aux sources du Nil-1913-station ferroviaire de Nakourou

Archaeological discoveries were located about from the Central Business District at

Hyrax Hill Hyrax Hill is a prehistoric site near Nakuru in the Rift Valley Province, Kenya, Rift Valley province of Kenya. It is a rocky spur roughly half a kilometer in length, with an elevation of 1,900 meters above sea level at its summit. The site was ...

. The city was incepted on 28 January 1904 when a local area one mile away from the railway station's main entrance was proclaimed to be a township by the British authorities. The name of the town was derived from the

Maasai Maasai may refer to: *Maasai people *Maasai language *Maasai mythology * MAASAI (band) See also * Masai (disambiguation) Masai may refer to: *Masai, Johor, a town in Malaysia * Masai Plateau, a plateau in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India *Maasai peopl ...

-speaking people of Kenya. During the colonial era, the British established Nakuru as part of the White Highlands and it became a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in 1952. After the founding of the Republic of Kenya, the first and second presidents of Kenya,

Jomo Kenyatta Jomo Kenyatta (22 August 1978) was a Kenyan anti-colonial activist and politician who governed Kenya as its Prime Minister from 1963 to 1964 and then as its first President from 1964 to his death in 1978. He played a significant role in the ...

and

Daniel Arap Moi Daniel Toroitich arap Moi ( ; 2 September 1924 – 4 February 2020) was a Kenyan politician who served as the second president of Kenya from 1978 to 2002. He is the country's longest-serving president to date. Moi previously served as the thi ...

respectively, had their semi-official residences. The city had been known for Kenyan politics and was home to politicians such as Kariuki Chotara, Kihika Kimani, Mirugi Kariuki, and Koigi Wamwere. During the 2007 post-election violence, dozens of buildings in Nakuru were burnt to the ground. On 3 June 2021, Nakuru was no longer a municipality after the Kenyan Senate voted that its status was adequate enough to be a city. Following the

Senate of Kenya The Senate of the Republic of Kenya ( swahili: ''Seneti ya Jamhuri ya Kenya)'' is one of the two Houses of the Parliament of Kenya, along with the National Assembly. The Senate was first established as part of Kenya's 1963 Constitution. Af ...

's approval in June, the President of the Republic of Kenya chartered Nakuru on 1 December 2021. It is the fourth urban centre in Kenya to be declared a city after

Mombasa Mombasa ( ; ) is a coastal city in southeastern Kenya along the Indian Ocean. It was the first capital of British East Africa, before Nairobi was elevated to capital status in 1907. It now serves as the capital of Mombasa County. The town is ...

, and

Kisumu Kisumu ( ) is the third-largest city in Kenya located in the Lake Victoria area in the former Nyanza Province. It is the second-largest city after Kampala in the Lake Victoria Basin. The city has a population of slightly over 600,000. The ...

Geography

The city of Nakuru is situated in Nakuru County, Kenya. It lies 1,850 metres above sea level. Nakuru County holds four of the

lakes,

Lake Solai Lake Solai is a saltwater lake in the Rift Valley Province of Kenya. It is located near the town of Solai, at an elevation of . Geological conditions at the lake during the Little Ice Age have been the object of a scientific study. In 2014 there ...

Lake Nakuru Lake Nakuru is one of the Rift Valley lakes, located at an elevation of above sea level. It lies to the south of Nakuru, in the rift valley of Kenya and is protected by Lake Nakuru National Park. About 10,000 years ago, Lake Nakuru, together wi ...

Lake Elementaita Lake Elmenteita is a soda lake, in the Great Rift Valley, about 120 km northwest of Nairobi, Kenya. Geography Elmenteita is derived from the Maasai word , meaning "dust place", a reference to the dryness and dustiness of the area, esp ...

, and

Lake Naivasha Lake Naivasha is a freshwater lake in Kenya, outside the town of Naivasha in Nakuru County, which lies north west of Nairobi. It is situated in the Great Rift Valley. The name derives from the local Maasai name ''ɛnaɨpɔ́sha '', meaning ...

Cityscape

Climate

Nakuru has

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° N/S of the Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ran ...

and

subtropical highland An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring co ...

climates (known as Csb); temperatures fall significantly at night and between June and August.

Gardens

The Nyayo Gardens are located along Kenyatta Avenue in Nakuru.

Economy

Agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

, manufacturing and tourism make up the economy of Nakuru. Around the city, it is widely known for its agricultural activity. The main crops grown include coffee, wheat,

barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...

, maize,

bean A bean is the seed of some plants in the legume family (Fabaceae) used as a vegetable for human consumption or animal feed. The seeds are often preserved through drying (a ''pulse''), but fresh beans are also sold. Dried beans are traditi ...

s, and potatoes. These crops are stored in great

silo A silo () is a structure for storing Bulk material handling, bulk materials. Silos are commonly used for bulk storage of grain, coal, cement, carbon black, woodchips, food products and sawdust. Three types of silos are in widespread use toda ...

s at the outskirts of the city, stored by the National Cereals and Produce Board and Lesiolo Grain Handlers Limited. The crops are the main sources for manufacturing industries found in Nakuru and Nairobi, such as flour milling and grain ginneries.

Dairy farming Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for the long-term production of milk, which is processed (either on the farm or at a dairy plant, either of which may be called a dairy) for the eventual sale of a dairy product. Dairy farming has a h ...

supplies milk processing plants within Nakuru. Some manufacturing industries include the production of soaps, motorcycles, batteries, and gardening equipment. Nakuru is one of Kenya's largest hubs for retail supermarket chains with The Nakumatt,

Naivas Naivas Supermarket, often referred to simply as "Naivas", is the largest supermarket chain in Kenya, with 106 outlets as of November 2024. At that time, it was the largest supermarket chain in Kenya, ahead of Quick Mart Limited, which had 51 o ...

Tuskys Tuskys (formerly Tusker Mattress) was a Kenyan supermarket chain. It was one of the largest supermarket chains in the Great Lakes Area. It employed nearly 6,150 people — over 6,000 in Kenya and 150 in Uganda. Location The head office of Tus ...

, and Gilanis being founded. The city is also a centre for various retail businesses that provide goods and services to the manufacturing and agricultural sectors. A large public market lies to the west of the town on the main thoroughfare to the capital, Nairobi.

Human resources

Education

Nakuru is the home of

Egerton University Egerton University is a public university in Kenya. It is the oldest institution of higher education in Kenya. Location The main campus of the university is located in Njoro, a small community approximately , southwest of the town of Nakuru. T ...

and Kabarak University, a private university associated with former

President Moi Daniel Toroitich arap Moi ( ; 2 September 1924 – 4 February 2020) was a Kenyan politician who served as the second president of Kenya from 1978 to 2002. He is the country's longest-serving president to date. Moi previously served as the thi ...

's business and religious interests.

Mount Kenya University Mount Kenya University (MKU) is a private, multi-campus university in the municipal town of Thika, Kenya. It was established by Prof. Simon N. Gicharu and has become one of the most significant private universities in Kenya. MKU has a student ...

University of Nairobi The University of Nairobi (uonbi or UoN; ) is a college, collegiate research university based in Nairobi and is the largest List of universities and colleges in Kenya, university in Kenya. Although its history as an educational institution dat ...

and

Kenyatta University Kenyatta University (KU) is a public university with its main campus in Nairobi, Kenya. It acquired the status of university in 1985, being the third university after University of Nairobi (1970) and Moi University (1984). As of October 2014, it ...

have campuses situated here. Nakuru contains numerous public and private secondary schools. Public schools include Nakuru Boys High School and Nakuru Girls High School (formerly Nakuru High School), Menengai High School, and Nakuru Day Secondary School. Martin Gicinga at Nakuru Public Library

There is a public library run by the Kenya National Library Service.

Public health

The Nakuru hospital is one of the largest in the county, historically the biggest in the province of Rift Valley. It is also home to the Nakuru War Memorial Hospital, opened shortly after

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

by Norman Jewell to commemorate troops.

Public safety

Police and law enforcement

Nakuru has a fire department that can be accessed by calling 911. The number can be called in case of any other emergencies.

Transportation

Train passing by Nakuru Menengai Forest Summit

Air

Nakuru is home to the Lanet Airstrip, later approved in 2017 to be upgraded to an international airport by the Ministry of Transport and the county government. Nakuru is also home to Kabarak Airstrip, located away from the city centre.

Road

Dondori Road C86 links the city to central Kenya. The Eldoret-Nairobi highway passes through this city, linking Uasin Gishu County with Nairobi.

Rail

The

Rift Valley Railways Rift Valley Railways (RVR) was a consortium established to manage the parastatal railways of Kenya Railways, Kenya and Uganda Railways Corporation, Uganda. The consortium won the bid for private management of the century-old Uganda Railway in 2 ...

narrow gauge track runs through the city with a railway station located on the edge of the CBD. It connects to cities Nairobi and Mombasa to the east, and Kisumu and Eldoret to the west.

Tourism

Two kilometres south of the town of Nakuru is

, one of the Rift Valley soda lakes, which forms part of the

Lake Nakuru National Park Lake Nakuru is one of the Rift Valley lakes, located at an elevation of above sea level. It lies to the south of Nakuru, in the rift valley of Kenya and is protected by Lake Nakuru National Park. About 10,000 years ago, Lake Nakuru, together ...

. The park was declared a rhinoceros sanctuary in 1983 a Ramsar site in 1990, and as an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

in 2009. The park is internationally known for its dense

flamingo Flamingos or flamingoes () are a type of wading bird in the family Phoenicopteridae, which is the only extant family in the order Phoenicopteriformes. There are four flamingo species distributed throughout the Americas (including the Caribbe ...

population. It is an important feeding site for

great white pelican The great white pelican (''Pelecanus onocrotalus'') also known as the eastern white pelican, rosy pelican or simply white pelican is a bird in the pelican family. It breeds from southeastern Europe through Asia and Africa, in swamps and shallow ...

s that nest in nearby

Lake Elmenteita Lake Elmenteita is a soda lake, in the Great Rift Valley, about 120 km northwest of Nairobi, Kenya. Geography Elmenteita is derived from the Maasai word , meaning "dust place", a reference to the dryness and dustiness of the area, esp ...

. The park is home to over 450 species of birds and 56 mammal species, including

Rothschild's giraffe The Rothschild's giraffe (''Giraffa camelopardalis camelopardalis'') is an ecotype of the Nubian giraffe. It is one of the most endangered distinct populations of giraffe, with 1,399 mature individuals estimated in the wild in 2018. The Rothsch ...

s. Another point of interest includes Menengai Crater, a

dormant volcano A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often ...

. Small

fumarole A fumarole (or fumerole) is a vent in the surface of the Earth or another rocky planet from which hot volcanic gases and vapors are emitted, without any accompanying liquids or solids. Fumaroles are characteristic of the late stages of volcani ...

s and steam vents can regularly be observed within the forested

caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcanic eruption. An eruption that ejects large volumes of magma over a short period of time can cause significant detriment to the str ...

from above. The second largest surviving volcanic crater in the world, it plunges 483 metres down from the rim, and the summit is accessible by walking or driving 8 kilometres to

Nyahururu Nyahururu (formerly known as Thomson Falls) is a town in Kenya, lying north east of Nakuru. The town derives its name from the Maasai word e-naiwurruwurr, meaning waterfall or windy or place of storms. It is located in both Laikipia County and ...

. The wood-covered crater ground is a nature reserve. Nakuru's closest tourist destinations are

Lake Bogoria Lake Bogoria (formerly Lake Hannington) is a saline, alkaline lake that lies in a volcanic region in a half-graben basin south of Lake Baringo, Kenya, a little north of the equator. Lake Bogoria, like Lake Nakuru, Lake Elementeita, and Lake Ma ...

and

Lake Baringo Lake Baringo is, after Lake Turkana, the most northern of the Kenyan Rift Valley lakes, with a surface area of and an elevation of . The lake is fed by several rivers: the Molo River, Molo, Perkerra River, Perkerra and Ol Arabel. It has no obvio ...

Baringo County Baringo County is one of the 47 Counties of Kenya, counties in Kenya. It is located in the former Rift Valley Province. Its headquarters and largest town is Kabarnet. The county is home to Lake Baringo, Lake Bogoria and Lake Kamnarok. Geographi ...

. The

prehistoric site, discovered by the Leakeys in 1926, is considered a major

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

and

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

site. The adjoining museum features finds from various nearby excavations.

Culture and contemporary life

Sports

Afraha Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Nakuru, Kenya. It is mainly used for football matches, and it is the home stadium of Nakuru AllStars — part of the Kenyan Premier League — and Ulinzi Stars of the Kenyan Premier League. The stadium holds 8,200 people and opened in 1948. It is two kilometres from Lake Nakuru National Park. In addition to being used for playing sports, Afraha Stadium hosted political meetings, including the GEMA promoted change The Constitution Series held in the 1970s. The former ruling party KANU also held many prominent meetings during the presidency of

Daniel arap Moi Daniel Toroitich arap Moi ( ; 2 September 1924 – 4 February 2020) was a Kenyan politician who served as the second president of Kenya from 1978 to 2002. He is the country's longest-serving president to date. Moi previously served as the thi ...

. The Rift Valley Sports Club lies in the centre of the city. The club was started in 1907 by European settlers who had settled in Nakuru in the early 1900s. A motor racing track, Nakuru Park (not to be confused with the Langa Langa circuit near

Gilgil Gilgil, Kenya, is a town in Nakuru County, Kenya. The town is located between Naivasha and Nakuru and along the Nairobi - Nakuru highway. It is to the west of the Gilgil River, which flows south to feed Lake Naivasha. According to the 1999 c ...

), operated in the Lake View Estate area from 1956 until the mid 1980s.

Demographics and surrounding towns

Nakuru is host to a diverse populace from across Kenya making it fit the description of a cosmopolitan city. The city consists predominantly of ethnic communities such as the

Kikuyu people The Kikuyu (also ''Agĩkũyũ/Gĩkũyũ'') are a Bantu peoples, Bantu ethnic group native to Central Province (Kenya), Central Kenya. At a population of 8,148,668 as of 2019, they account for 17.13% of the total population of Kenya, making t ...

Kalenjin Kalenjin may refer to: * Kalenjin people of Kenya ** Elgeyo people (Keiyo people) ** Kipsigis people ** Marakwet people ** Nandi people ** Pokot people ** Terik people ** Tugen people ** Sebei people * Kalenjin language Kalenjin may refer t ...

Luhya Luhya or Abaluyia may refer to: * Luhya people * Luhya language {{disambig Language and nationality disambiguation pages ...

, Gusii,

Luo Luo or LUO may refer to: Luo peoples and languages *Luo peoples, an ethno-linguistic group of eastern and central Africa **Luo people of Kenya and Tanzania or Joluo, an ethnic group in western Kenya, eastern Uganda, and northern Tanzania. *** Luol ...

, and people of Indian descent. Moreover, some settler families still live in the area today. However, the majority, about 70% of Nakuru's population is the Kikuyu community with the Kalenjin coming in second place. According to the 2019 Kenya Population Census, Nakuru had the third-largest urban population in Kenya. The diverse populace of Nakuru makes it a hub for entrepreneurship. It also gives it a blend of cultures underpinning the city's culture of hospitality and cuisine. Surrounding towns include the residential town Lanet, approximately from Nakuru.

Njoro Njoro is an agricultural town 18 km west south west of Nakuru, Kenya situated on the western rim of the Rift Valley. Njoro town was the headquarters of the former Njoro District, hived off Nakuru District. It was declared as one of the cons ...

lies from Nakuru and is a small agricultural town with a local university aimed at promoting agricultural development in

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

, namely

established in 1934.

Government

Nakuru is the headquarters of

Nakuru Nakuru (nicknamed Nax) is a city in the Rift Valley region of Kenya. It is the capital of Nakuru County, and it is the fourth largest city in Kenya and the largest in the Rift Valley region. As of 2019, Nakuru had an urban population of 570, ...

County A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

. The current governor is Susan Kihika, and the Member of Parliament for the town is David Gikaria. The senator for Nakuru is

Tabitha Karanja Tabitha Mukami Muigai Karanja is a Kenyan businesswoman, entrepreneur, industrialist and Nakuru County Senator. She is the founder and current chief executive officer of Keroche Breweries, the first large brewery in Kenya owned by a non-multinati ...

Sister cities

Nakuru is a

sister city A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inte ...

East Orange, New Jersey East Orange is a City (New Jersey), city in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 69,612, an increase of 5,342 (+8.3%) from the 2010 United States ...

, United States.

References

Bibliography

* (Includes articles about Nakuru)

External links

Official website

Nakuru Municipal Council
{{Authority control Populated places in Nakuru County Provincial capitals in Kenya County capitals in Kenya