Fort Ternan is a small town in

Kericho County Kericho County is one of the 47 counties in Kenya. The county seats between longitude 35°02' and 35°40' East and between the equator and latitude 0°23' South with an altitude of about 2002m above sea level. It borders Uasin Gishu County to t ...

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. ...

, located 82 kilometres east of

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 ...

and eleven kilometres east of

Koru The is a spiral shape evoking a newly Circinate vernation, unfurling frond from a Cyathea dealbata, silver fern frond. It is an integral symbol in Māori people, Māori art, bone carving, carving and Tā moko, tattooing, where it symbolise ...

. It is named after Col. Trevor Ternan C.M.G.D.S.O. Fort Ternan is located at the western border of the former

Rift Valley Province Rift Valley Province () of Kenya, bordering Uganda, was one of Kenya's eight provinces, before the 2013 Kenyan general election. Rift Valley Province was the largest and one of the most economically important provinces in Kenya. It was dominated ...

.Rough Guide Map of Kenya Fort Ternan forms is the Headquarters of Chilchila ward of

Kipkelion West Constituency Kipkelion West is a constituency in Kenya. It is one of six constituencies in Kericho County Kericho County is one of the 47 counties in Kenya. The county seats between longitude 35°02' and 35°40' East and between the equator and latitud ...

in Kericho County . Fort Ternan hosts Chilchila

location In geography, location or place is used to denote a region (point, line, or area) on Earth's surface. The term ''location'' generally implies a higher degree of certainty than ''place'', the latter often indicating an entity with an ambiguous bou ...

and Chilchila division Headquarters.

Transport

It is served by a railway station on the branch line to Kisumu on the national railway system. The railway is heavily graded in the vicinity of this station. The Highway Construction running From Nakuru To Kisumu through

Londiani Londiani is a town in Kericho County, Kenya. It is 49 km from Kericho, which is about a 50-minute drive. As of 2009, it had a total population of 44,953. Transport Londiani is located in the Kipkelion East Constituency between Nakuru an ...

has connected the town to Kericho and Kisumu. There are local roads leading to highly productive highland areas like Kipsinende, Cherara, Kokwet, Chepkechei, Koisagat, Chepkitar and Lelu.

Paleontology

Fossils of the

Middle Miocene The Middle Miocene is a sub-epoch of the Miocene epoch (geology), epoch made up of two Stage (stratigraphy), stages: the Langhian and Serravallian stages. The Middle Miocene is preceded by the Early Miocene. The sub-epoch lasted from 15.97 ± 0. ...

14 million year old ape '' Kenyapithecus wickeri'' were first found by

Louis Leakey Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey (7 August 1903 – 1 October 1972) was a Kenyan-British palaeoanthropologist and archaeologist whose work was important in demonstrating that humans evolved in Africa, particularly through discoveries made at Olduvai ...

near Fort Ternan in 1962. There is a prehistoric site and museum about 15 kilometers from Fort Ternan Town, though the fossils themselves are housed at the

National Museums of Kenya The National Museums of Kenya (NMK; ) is a state corporation that manages museums, sites and monuments in Kenya. It carries out heritage research, and has expertise in subjects ranging from palaeontology, archeology, ethnography and biodivers ...

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 ...

. A skull belonging to the

Cro-Magnon Cro-Magnons or European early modern humans (EEMH) were the first early modern humans (''Homo sapiens'') to settle in Europe, migrating from western Asia, continuously occupying the continent possibly from as early as 56,800 years ago. They in ...

man was also found in Fort Ternan town, near Chilchila Primary School.

Economic activity

The main economic activity is cash crop farming. Coffee, sugar cane and tea (in a few high altitude areas) are grown in small-scale holding farms. Adjacent to the town is Kipkelion Coffee millers where most of the coffee is supplied by farmers. Other crops grown around the town are subsistence crops such as maize, beans, tomatoes, potatoes, etc.

Education

The town is surrounded by a number of both primary and secondary schools. There is also an upcoming institute – Kipsinende Technical Institute.

References

{{Coord, 00, 12, 00, S, 35, 21, 00, E, display=title Populated places in Rift Valley Province Kericho County Rift Valley Province

Transport

Paleontology

Economic activity

Education

See also

References