Gilgil,

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. ...

, is a town in

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 ...

. The town is located between

Naivasha Naivasha is a town in Nakuru County, Kenya, north west of Nairobi. From 1969, the population expanded by a factor of 17 times to over 355,383 at the 2019 census. It is situated on the shores of Lake Naivasha, from which it takes its name. The ...

and

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, ...

and along the

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 ...

- Nakuru highway. It is to the west of the Gilgil River, which flows south to feed

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 ...

. According to the 1999 census, Gilgil had a population of 18,805. Gilgil is the administrative centre of Gilgil Division in Nakuru County. In 2022, Gilgil town received a charter from former Governor Lee Kinyanjui to become a municipality.

History

During the 1920s - 1940s, some members of the

Happy Valley set The Happy Valley set was a group of mostly British and Anglo-Irish aristocrats and adventurers who settled in the "Happy Valley" region of the Wanjohi Valley, near the Aberdare mountain range, in colonial Kenya between the 1920s and the 1940s. ...

lived in Gilgil. From 1944 to 1948, it also contained a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

internment camp for Irgun and Lehi members. The first soldiers that arrived in the town were advance parties of the

South African Army The South African Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of South Africa, a part of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), along with the South African Air Force, South African Navy and South African Military Health Servi ...

preparing for the arrival of the

1st South African Infantry Brigade The South African 1st Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade of the army of the Union of South Africa during World Wars I and II. During World War I, the brigade served as a British formation in Egypt and on the Western Front, most famous ...

, which was training in the area by mid-1940. Gilgil was made the brigade headquarters. In July 1958 Gilgil G1 Camp was occupied by the 1st Battalion, the

King's Own Royal Regiment The King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army. It served under various titles and fought in many wars and conflicts, including both the World War I, First and the World War II, Second World Wars, from ...

, first to take up accommodation at the camp since the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. In July 1959 2nd Battalion,

Coldstream Guards The Coldstream Guards is the oldest continuously serving regular regiment in the British Army. As part of the Household Division, one of its principal roles is the protection of the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, monarchy; due to this, it often ...

replaced them. Works services costing £75,000 were begun in two phases, £50,000 in December 1958, and £25,000 in August 1959. These charges were borne by the UK (British) Army vote. As of December 1959, the battalion at Gilgil was to move to

Kahawa Kahawa is a mixed-use settlement spanning the Kiambu and Nairobi county borders along Thika Road. It is electorally divided into four wards across the two counties: Kahawa and Kahawa West wards in Nairobi county and Kahawa Wendani and Kahawa Su ...

when the new buildings there were ready. In the 1950s and 1960s, Gilgil was used as a base for the rotation of British infantry units who, typically, would progress from the United Kingdom to the

British Army of the Rhine British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) was the name given to British Army occupation forces in the Rhineland, West Germany, after the First and Second World Wars, and during the Cold War, becoming part of NATO's Northern Army Group (NORTHAG) tasked ...

(BAOR) in Germany, to Kenya (with detachments left en route in the nascent Gulf states) and then on to Hong Kong.

3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery 3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery is a regiment of the Royal Horse Artillery in the British Army. They are currently based at Albemarle Barracks, Northumberland, England. The regiment is equipped with MLRS and provides Deep Fires to the 1 ...

was located at Alanbrooke Barracks, Gilgil, from September 1961 to September 1964. After the handover to Kenya the barracks was rechristened Kenyatta Barracks.

Economy

Agriculture is the main local industry. While Gilgil Telecommunications Industries was a notable employer, it is now closed down as it was sold by the government. There are a few industries within the outskirts of the town, namely the Gilgil Diatomite Industries which is located further to the west along the Gilgil-Nakuru main road. The industry mines

diatomite Diatomaceous earth ( ), also known as diatomite ( ), celite, or kieselguhr, is a naturally occurring, soft, siliceous sedimentary rock that can be crumbled into a fine white to off-white powder. It has a particle size ranging from more than 3 ...

which is used for various industrial purposes. The other industry is the Ndume Farm Machineries, which manufactures

farm equipment Agricultural machinery relates to the mechanical structures and devices used in farming or other agriculture. There are many types of such equipment, from hand tools and power tools to tractors and the farm implements that they tow or operate. M ...

, especially maize milling machines and ploughs. The towns population has grown considerably since 2007 as many of the

internally displaced people An internally displaced person (IDP) is someone who is forced to leave their home but who remains within their country's borders. They are often referred to as refugees, although they do not fall within the legal definitions of a refugee. I ...

fleeing post-election violence after the

2007 presidential election This electoral calendar 2007 lists the national/federal direct elections held in 2007 in the de jure and de facto list of sovereign states, sovereign states and their list of dependent territories, dependent territories. Referendums are included ...

opted to settle in GilGil and Naivasha. These populations have significantly expanded the farming activities in the towns outskirts. The community also hosts two large Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) barracks, the headquarters of

Kenya Police Service The Kenya Police Service is a national body in charge of law enforcement in Kenya. It is subordinate to the National Police Service which is headed by an Inspector General of Police who exercises independent command over the Service. Kenya Po ...

's Anti-Stock Theft Unit (4 kilometres northwest of the town centre) and the National Youth Service training college (to the west of the town). The larger numbers of personnel employed by these organizations contribute a lot to the town's economy. Much of the town's real estate has expanded thanks to military personnel who are routinely engaged in overseas peace-keeping missions, with the resulting monetary benefits being invested in property, both residential and commercial. The National Youth Service (NYS) is run as a military-style operation and provides a 3-6 month basic training for the youth who must undergo a two-year national service before they are provided with a tuition-free training in most engineering technical fields. The Anti-Stock-Theft unit (ASTU), a paramilitary outfit, is a rapid response police unit to track down cattle rustlers mainly among the pastoral communities.

Tourism

Tourism is also a small-scale contributor to the town's economy. Nearby destinations include

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 ...

, northwest along the Nairobi-Nakuru highway, which serves as a bird sanctuary and has a number of hotels and lodges. The Kariandusi Prehistoric Site lies next to the Kariandusi Diatomite Plant. The site is operated by 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 ...

, and an important

Lower Paleolithic The Lower Paleolithic (or Lower Palaeolithic) is the earliest subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. It spans the time from around 3.3 million years ago when the first evidence for stone tool production and use by hominins appears ...

site. There is enough geological evidence to show that in the past, large lakes, sometimes reaching levels hundreds of meters higher than the present Lake Nakuru and Elementaita, occupied this basin. Dating back between 700,000 and one million years old, Kariandusi is possibly the first Acheulian site to have been found in Situ in East Africa. Dr Leakey, a

paleontologist Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

, believed that this was a factory site of the Acheulian period. He made this conclusion after numerous collections of specimens were found lying in the Kariandusi riverbed. This living site of the hand-axe man, was discovered in 1928. A rise in the Lake level drove prehistoric men from their lakeside home and buried all the tools and weapons which they left behind in a hurry. The Acheulian stage of the great hand-axe culture, to which this site belongs, is found over a very widespread area from England, France, and southwest Europe generally to

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

Military

The main employer in the town remains the Ministry of Defense as the town hosts two major barracks, the Gilgil barracks (located about 1 km from the Gilgil town center on the old Gilgil - Nakuru road) and the Kenyatta Barracks (located about 2 km along the main Gilgil-Nyahururu road). The latter barracks is also known as Westcom or Western Command. The Gilgil barracks is home to the 5th Kenya Rifles (

Kenya Army Infantry The units of the Kenya Army Infantry are the principal fighting arms of the Kenya Army. The primary mission of the Infantry formations is to fight and win land battles within area of operational responsibilities in the defence of the nation agai ...

) also known as "the fighting five", while the Kenyatta Barracks is home to Kenya's only airborne battalion, the 20th Battalion and also home to the 66 Artillery brigade, the 76 Armoured Recce Battalion and the 1st Mortar Battalion. Most of the townsfolk thus largely rely on the military community in economic terms. In the recent past, members of the military both active and retired personnel have invested significantly in the town's property market and also in retail business.

Statistics

* Elevation = 1,981 metres (6,497 ft approx.) above average sea level - measurement at Gilgil Train Station. * Population = 21,081

References