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Attractions in Nakuru County

30. Barons Park and Golf Centre

Once the utmost stopover on the journey from Nairobi to Nakuru, the Delamere Kobil Service Station Shop along Naivasha to Nakuru Road existed as one the most endorsed shops in Kenya. This has all changed. Nakuru County is now a rapidly developing, outward-looking county with many modern stretch and rest stops now taking root. Even so, Nakuru, whose splendid lakes have lured many from far and wide, is still largely a transit county and chains of hotels and malls are attractively sited throughout its road system. Up until now, Delamore shop is a liked stopover. Among its recent attractions, established in 2015, is Barons Park and Golf Centre, a hassle free driving range. Young and old, pay and play. Open until late, Barons indiscriminately allows anyone to have a go at the well-tended range which, true to course, is meant to debunk the belief that the sport is a rich man’s game. It targets young and upcoming golfers who cannot afford costly club fees. Professional and upcoming golfers can complete its nine holes.

31. The Pot at Panda

Travellers to Naivasha may stay at Pot at Panda, owned and operated by Panda Flower Farm within Naivasha Flower Business Park. The Lodge has 12 rooms – double rooms with balcony, family rooms with shared bathroom, double rooms and twin – and stands on a hillside overlooking Lake Naivasha across which can be sighted the twin-peaked Eburru Mountains. Overall, Pot at Panda boasts of fetching views and from its porch one can take in a wide range of the geological marvels, and at the western side of the property, among the sloping foothills, an explosion of greenhouses in the blossoming flower farms overlay an area which carries a serious variety of some of the best flowers in Kenya’s floriculture. The Pot of Panda is an exceptional place to spend an afternoon and enjoy a sunset toast. It is particularly popular with families and couples as a weekend getaway. Into that bargain, its has a dozen secure, raised and equipped tents to enjoy a different living experience. Other amenities include: a swimming pool, gardens and play area, billiard table, fully-stocked bar and restaurant, gym and fitness centre. The main gate to Flower Business Park is located off Naivasha-Nakuru Highway before the turnoff to Naivasha Town. An excellent road takes from the gate of Flower Business Park up the hill. It terminates at the site; at the summit.

32. Morendat Farm

For wine and beef-steak lovers, Morendat Farm located along Naivasha-Nakuru Road provides interesting opportunities for exploration. The 3,000 acres cattle ranch, managed by the Kenya Nut Company, is world famous for its prized aged beef, plated-up in many first-rate hotels in Kenya. The husbandry, feeding and beef aging processes are quite something to behold. It is a lesson in the care and pre-commission of producing top-tier beef. Its latter day attraction at Leleshwa Wines was started out as a hobby, something fun and exotic, in the early 1990’s. This 40-hectares vineyard now produces about 80,000 bottles of wine annually and in 2015 it won its very first Gold Medal in the International Michelangelo Wine & Spirits Awards. A word of advice is necessary here: Except for business meetings, visitors to the farm are required to make prior arrangements. Get in touch with Tom on 0712-122475 or Rosemary on 0723-179292. The Morendat Farm is past the first turnoff to Naivasha Town and not far past the Delamere Fuel Station and Barons Park Golf Centre. On the left, and over the railway line.

33. Great Rift Valley Lodge and Golf Resort

While Nakuru County is more popular for its National Parks and superb wildlife resources, it is only in the past decade or two that the world has become aware of the fact that Nakuru has some of the most transcendent resorts and camping grounds in Kenya. An increasing number of travellers, already in the thousands every year, are coming to these resorts primarily for a weekend or longer stay, with trips to National Parks thrown in as extras. One such establishment, whose popularity has soared through the roof in the past decade, is the revered Great Rift Valley Lodge and Golf Resort. Both the lodge and the club are beautifully situated, the lodge itself raised on the Eburru Mountains at 7000 ft., having fine panoramas of Lake Naivasha, Mount Longonot and Aberdare Mountain Range. Accommodation is provided in 21 twin and nine double rooms, all with private balconies overlooking the spectacular expanse of the Rift Valley. The rooms are housed in spacious two and three storey houses which are beautifully furnished with large four-poster beds, handmade wooden furniture and modern en suite bathrooms. Several of the rooms have interlinking doors that convert them into spacious family suites. Alternative accommodation is available at the Longonot Villas; 40 modern three-tier three-bedroomed houses. Other amenities include the 18-hole championship golf course – voted Africa’s Best Golf Hotel in 2016, swimming pool, tennis courts, bar and restaurant, conference facilities and its own airstrip connecting with Samburu, Masai Mara or Nairobi. It is located 24 kms from Naivasha Town and 12 kms from A104 Nairobi-Nakuru Road turnoff.

34. Eburru Mountains

The 3,220 ft. tall Eburru Mountains, a double-peaked ridge which straddles the north and west peripheral area of Lake Naivasha, provides an exciting challenge for the nature-lover and rewards the avid hiker with remarkable vistas. Its Maa sobriquet Ol Donyo Eburru, mountain of smoke, answers to one of the Eburru’s most interesting spectacles, that of the presence of its steam jets, reminiscent of those seen at Olkaria II (Hell’s Gate National Park) on the south and east of the lake. Peculiar around Naivasha area is that there is no basin of heated ground-waters, but that juvenile fluids are escaping from depth at places and mixing with the ground-water, conditions being suitable at certain places where there are fissures for the production of steam, which escapes at surfaces. The small Eburru Wellhead Geothermal Power Plant by KenGen is set-up on the northern foot-slopes. The Eburru Mountains, a part of the active complex of volcanoes in the Great Rift Valley system, is typified by Cedar hills, deep-valleys and rolling foothills. The 8,715-hectares skeletal and indigenous Eburru Forest resembles that seen on the younger Mount Longonot, and on the badlands of Elementaita.

35. Kigio Wildlife Conservancy

Kigio Wildlife Conservancy is located in Gilgil area midpoint between Naivasha and Lake Elementaita. The 14 km2 rangeland comprises of a symbiotic working cattle ranch and wildlife sanctuary. All in all, there over 3,500 heads of wildlife that roam across the conservancy to include Rothschild’s giraffe, gazelle, hyena, hippos, leopard, and buffalo. It has over 250 species of birds too. Founded as an initiative to revive the dwindling population of endangered Rothschild’s giraffe in Kenya, Kigio is now home to many of them. “As at 2019, there were about 39 Rothschild giraffes, nine more than the Kigio Ecosystem can handle efficiently. When they are too many, we give them out to the neighbouring conservancies or to the giraffe centre” – Business Daily. From its two lodges, Malewa Wildlife Camp and Kigio Luxury Camp, it’s easy to wander to the banks of Malewa River where an ever-present variety of game range over. Kigio is located 28 kms from Naivasha Town, then 7 kms to its lodge along an earthen road with gravelly soil.