TOURIST ATTRACTIONS

Shimba Hills National Reserve is approximately 33 km South of Mombasa, in Kwale district of Coast Province. The Shimba Hills were gazetted as a National Forest in 1903, grassland areas were incorporated in 1924. Several subsequent extensions have taken place bringing the Reserve to its present size. In 1968 most of the Reserve was gazetted as the Shimba Hills National Reserve. A fenced elephant corridor connects the Shimba Hills with waluganje Forest Reserve to the North.

The Shimba Hills hold one of the largest areas of coastal rain forest in East Africa after Arabuko Sokoke. The vegetation consists of forested scarp slopes and undulating grasslands interspersed with woodland clumps and ribbons of riverine forest in the steeply cut valleys.

The Shimba hills are a dissected plateau that ascends steeply from the coastal plains, 30 km south west of Mombasa and just south of Kwale town. The surrounding escarpment rises from around 120m to 300m across the bulk of the plateau and as high as 450m at Marare and Pengo hills. Rivers flowing from the hills supply fresh water to Mombasa and the Diani and Ukunda area.

Major Attractions at the Shimba Hills National Park
Scenic landscape comprising of hills and valleys extending beyond the reserve boundaries