Laikipia University
Perched above the Aberdare Ranges, a Nyahururu campus is quietly becoming one of Kenya’s most remarkable academic environments
By Victorine Nekesa
Tucked into the cool highlands of Laikipia at an elevation of more than 2,300 metres above sea level, Laikipia University offers something few institutions anywhere in the world can genuinely claim: a campus where colobus monkeys share the trees with students heading to morning lectures, and where mist rolls softly across an evergreen landscape that looks far more like a national park than a conventional place of higher learning.
The university, situated in Nyahururu and overlooking the Aberdare Ranges, sits apart from the concrete sprawl that defines most urban campuses in Kenya. The air is clean, mornings are cool and quiet, and the scenery remains lush throughout the year. For students, the climate is as much an asset as any library or laboratory — keeping minds alert and free from the heat and dust that weigh on lowland towns, making it particularly well-suited for reading, research and reflection.
What distinguishes Laikipia University most, however, is its relationship with the natural world immediately around it. Indigenous trees and dense thickets within the compound provide habitat for a variety of bird species and small wildlife. The most remarkable residents are a troop of black-and-white colobus monkeys — a species that is increasingly rare across much of Kenya and instantly recognised by its striking long white mantle and jet-black body. These gentle, leaf-eating primates have made the campus their permanent home and, in doing so, have become as central to the university’s identity as its academic programmes.
“You can be sitting in a lecture and look out to find colobus monkeys leaping from tree to tree,” said one first-year student. “It feels like studying inside a national park.” The monkeys, calm and entirely non-aggressive, have drawn the attention of researchers and nature enthusiasts alike, and their continued presence reflects the institution’s quiet but meaningful commitment to conservation.
Beyond the wildlife, the campus holds another understated attraction. Lake Chacha, a small man-made lake set within the university grounds, adds to the beauty of the environment while supporting fish farming and small-scale agricultural activity in the surrounding area. It is just one of several features that have led tourism stakeholders to identify Laikipia University as a potential academic tourism destination — one that could complement Nyahururu’s existing attractions, among them Thomson Falls and Marmanet Forest, in drawing a wider range of visitors to the region.
If appropriately marketed, the university could attract researchers, conservationists and nature lovers seeking a thoughtful alternative to conventional tourism. The university has not yet fully capitalised on these assets, but for now it remains one of Kenya’s more quietly remarkable institutions — a place where education and the natural world do not compete for space, but coexist with a kind of uncommon, unhurried grace.
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