Eldoret is a town

Town

A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...

 in western Kenya

Kenya

Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

 and the administrative centre of Uasin Gishu District

Uasin Gishu District

Uasin Gishu District is one of the seventy-one districts of Kenya, located in the Rift Valley Province. The city of Eldoret is its capital, administrative center and commercial center....

 of Rift Valley Province. Lying south of the Cherangani Hills

Cherangani Hills

Cherangani Hills, gently rolling slopes in the western highlands of Kenya, are one of Kenya's five main forests. The highlands, the large central plateau, is divided by the Mau Escarpment rising from the border with Tanzania up to the Cherangani Hills, fencing the plateau that rises to the slopes...

, the local elevation varies from about 2100 metres above sea level at the airport to more than 2700 metres in nearby areas (7000–9000 feet). The population was 193,830 in 1999 (census),

and it is currently the fastest growing town in Kenya, and currently the 5th largest in Kenya.

The name "Eldoret" is based on the Maasai

Maasai language

The Maasai language is an Eastern Nilotic language spoken in Southern Kenya and Northern Tanzania by the Maasai people, numbering about 800,000...

 word "eldore" meaning "stony river"

because the bed of the nearby Sosiani River is very stony.