Uasin Gishu Plateau

The plateau surrounding Eldoret is one of the most productive agricultural areas in Kenya — broad, slightly rolling terrain at 1,800–2,000 metres growing wheat, maize, and dairy. The landscape is open and pleasant to drive through: big skies, red soil, and occasional acacia groves. The cool highland air is a relief if you are arriving from the hot lowlands.

The plateau gives a good impression of Kenya's highland farming economy. Small market centres dot the roads between Eldoret and the surrounding towns, with the usual mix of roadside stalls, grain stores, and agricultural suppliers. It is unremarkable country in the tourist sense but genuinely interesting if you care about how Kenya feeds itself.

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The Uasin Gishu plateau was settled by European farmers during the early colonial period — it was marketed to British settlers as the "White Highlands," and the wheat and maize farms established then remain the backbone of the local economy today. The plateau's Afrikaner settler community, descendants of Boers who trekked up from South Africa in the early 1900s, left a distinct cultural mark on the region that still faintly persists.

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