TOURIST ATTRACTIONS

Kakamega Forest National Park covers an area of about 240km2, established to protect the only mid altitude tropical rainforest in Kenya. It is a remnant and eastern limit of rainforests of Zaire and West Africa affinities are unique in Kenya and the forest contains many species found nowhere else in the country. The forest lies in the Lake Victoria catchments, about 50km north of Kisumu and West of the Nandi Escarpment forming the edge of the central highlands.  Gazetted as a trust forest in 1933 and two small nature reserves, Yale and lsecheno were established within the forest in 1967.

In 1985, nearly 4400ha of the northern portion of the forest together with the adjacent Kisere Forest were gazetted as Kakamega Forest National Reserve. The forest is an important water catchments area with the lsiukhu and Yala Rivers flowing through it. The terrain is undulating with often steep sided river valleys. Kakamega Forest National Reserve is a walk through park for bird and butterfly watchers, this is the place of choice for you. Being such a food rich reserve habitat, the park supports over 300 bird species, over 350 species of trees, 27 species of snakes… our snakes are friendly given the wet nature of the forest throughout the year... no history of snake bites since the park started 20 years ago. The forest is also home to over 400 species of butterflies (about 45% of all recorded butterflies in Kenya), reptiles, mollusks and 7 primate species

The climate of this gem Annual rainfall is over 2000mm. Most of this rain falls between April and November with a short dry season from December to March. Rain falls mostly in the afternoon or early evening and is often accompanied by heavy thunderstorms. Average temperatures remain similar throughout - between 15oC and 28oC