Mau-Mau Cave Mau-Mau Cave Located near Nanyuki, about 199.2 km North East of Nairobi in Kenya's Central Province, the Mau Mau Cave was used as a hide-out by Kenyan Freedom Fighters during the Mau Mau Uprising of 1952 to 1960. It is located approximately 18 km south of the equator inside the thick Mount Kenya National Park. The cave was discovered in 1953 by the Mau Mau freedom fighters fighting the British colonial government soon after the declaration of the State of Emergency in 1952. It was bombed by British forces in 1959 after the location was obtained from a member of
Operation Anvil (Mau Mau Uprising) Mau" movement, had proliferated the Kikuyuland region. On 20 October the colonial governor declared a state of emergency, initiating efforts by the British military to put down the insurgency. The first months of the British campaign were plagued by a lack of discipline, communication, coherent strategy, and useful intelligence and little progress was made against the Mau Mau. An assault on the Naivasha police station and a massacre of civilians in the village of Lari in March 1953 dramatically escalated the conflict. Mau Mau activity also began to surface in the city of Nairobi, which had a large Kikuyu population.