Hyrax Hill is located two kilometers from Nakuru Town. It is a conspicuous landmark in Nakuru’s eastern outskirts on the Nairobi-Nakuru Highway. The hill houses hyraxes (also known as rock rabbits), from whom the hill derives its name.
Hyrax Hill earliest occupation, estimated to be about 5,000 years ago, was at a time when the Lake Nakuru waters reached the foot of the hill. Archaeologists have identified four periods of site use, that include the Neolithic period, as seen in burial moulds and distinctive pottery and shallow stone bowls from one of the excavations.
There was another occupation above this 5,000-year-old burial mould. It is, however, contested whether it was an occupational site or a place of different activities/ customs. This level shows some form of burial practices.
Females, for example, were buried with shallow stone bowls and occasionally a stone pestle next to their bodies.
Then there is the Iron Age recorded by the stone enclosures found at another location of the site. Here, evidence of ceramic smoking pipes, glass beads and cowrie shell ornaments indicate a quite recent date, perhaps not before the 18th century.
The last one is the Sirikwa occupation evident in groups of about 13 holes measuring 10 and 20 metres wide with associate mounds. These were formerly circular cattle pens dug on the hillside and fenced as protection against wild carnivores and thieves. The herdsmen were probably housed outside these stone pens. These Sirikwa holes seem to have pioneered the pastoral economy of the Maasai of today as no evidence of cultivation was found at the site. Today, this site is an established museum declared a national monument in 1943. Due to its proximity to Nairobi and Nakuru, the site is ideal for tourism as well as visits by educational groups.