Nakuru County is known to have historical features that attract visitors from all over the world. The features are what has given the county its big name.
Below are the features that attract visitors to Nakuru:
1. Olorgesailie prehistoric site
This Acheulian site is 90kms southwest of Nairobi on Magadi road. Its in-situ displays of pre-historic materials including numerous hand axes, fossilized skeletons of extinct species of elephants and hippopotamus dating back from 1.2 million years ago.
2. Lake Naivasha
Lake Naivasha is a beautiful freshwater lake, fringed by thick papyrus trees. The lake is almost 13kms wide, but its waters are shallow with an average depth of five metres.
3. Hell’s Gate National Park
Hells Gate National Park is south of Lake Naivasha, north-west of Nairobi. The park is accessible by road from Nairobi through Naivasha on the lake road south at a junction five kilometers south of Naivasha.
4. Menengai Crater
Menengai Crater is an extinct volcano standing at 2490 meters high. It is the 2nd largest volcanic crater in the world with a surface area of 90 square kilometers. Local people believed that this crater has caves that host devils on motorbikes.
5. Lake Elementeita
Lake Elementeita National Reserve is set around the small soda lake of Elementeita. The lake is surrounded by spectacular countryside that played an important role in the early colonial history of Kenya.
6. Kariandusi archaeological site
Two kilometres east of Lake Elementeita skirting the diatomite mine along the Nairobi-Nakuru highway, the Acheulian site has hand axes and cleavers including fossils of extinct animal species. A nature trail leads you through the site once part of a bigger lake.
7. Hyrax hill museum
The museum atop a hill was once a colonial farmhouse. Ancient dwellings of the Sirikwa people now extinct are found in-situ the oldest dating to 3,000 years and the youngest to possibly 300 years.
8. Mt Longonot National Park
Mt Longonot National Park is about 90km from Nairobi. It is a young volcano which rises to 2,776m above sea level. Mt Longonot National Park is an arresting sight for visitors to the Naivasha basin.
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