Kakamega

About Kakamega

Rainforest is the reason most travellers come to Kakamega. Just east of this busy county town lies Kakamega Forest, the easternmost remnant of the Guineo-Congolian rainforest that once stretched across Central Africa, and the only forest of its kind in Kenya. Its tall canopy holds colobus and red-tailed monkeys, the great blue turaco and hundreds of other bird species, along with butterflies and plants found nowhere else in the country.

The town itself is the capital of Kakamega County and a commercial hub for the Luhya communities of western Kenya. It grew around a colonial administrative post and briefly drew prospectors during a gold rush in the early 1930s. Today it is a university town, home to Masinde Muliro University, with a lively market, a rebuilt football stadium and a strong sporting culture.

Visitors usually split their time between the forest's two sections, Buyangu in the north and Isecheno in the south, with dawn walks up Lirhanda or Buyangu Hill. Closer to town, the Crying Stone of Ilesi and the region's famous bullfights show a different side of Luhya country.