The Kakamega National Rain Forest Reserve is a slice of equatorial forest and an absolute must for visitors interested in birds, butterflies or trees. Kakamega Forest near the town of the same name in Western Kenya offers opportunities for wonderful walks and views.

 

This isolated rainforest spreads across 240 square-kilometres and is a remnant of the once vast trans-African ecosystem providing a remarkable diversity of plants, birds and insects, found nowhere else in Kenya. There are series of visitor trails of varying distances leading from the two nature reserves in the high canopy forest which are signposted and easy to follow.

Among the vast array of birds (330 recorded) the Kakamega Rain Forest is home to the flamboyant Great Blue Turaco, gemlike Emerald Cuckoo and the cacophonous Black-and-white casqued Hornbill. From the monkey family there are the blue Sykes, the red tailed, the common Black and White Colobus, and the rare deBrazza’s. The Forest is also home to 40% of the total butterfly population of Kenya.