Kenya Tourist Board: Kakamega Forest is a Rich Resource Centre for Institutions Learning

Written by Kenya Tourist Board | | Print | E-mail

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Kakamega Town hosts several schools and college activities each year ranging from sports and athletics championships to drama and music festivals. Very few find time to visit the Kakamega Forest National Reserve. Reasons for this include poor planning by schools and reluctance by tourism stakeholders to reach out to learning institutions by way of effective dissemination of information to schoola, colleges and universities are major constraint in the KFNR utilities for educational purposes.

KFNR, the Forest encompasses Kisere and Buyangu Reserves, has a lot to offer to institutions as learning resources. The forest covers an area of 240km2 and was established to protect the only mid altitude tropical rainforest in Kenya, a remnant and eastern limit of rainforests of Zaire and West Africa. The annual rainfall is over 2000mm. Rain falls between April and November with a short dry season from December to March. Mostly rain falls in the afternoon or early evening and is often accompanied by heavy thunderstorms.

KFNR is a walk through park with nature trails labeled for easy self-guiding. Ask for a tour guided if you need help, otherwise you may want to take a self guided nature walks. Along the trail, watching birds, butterflies, primates, flora and fauna that is highly adapted to the forest ecosystem is unique experience. You’ll see many bird species found nowhere else in the country in this Forest. Tourists go for camping and picnicking at the Forest.

River Isiukhu waterfalls and the riverside atmosphere make the nature trail quite comforting. You want to come back again. Buyangu viewpoint gives a bird eye-view of the forest canopy. At the picnic site you sit back and relaxunder the grass-thatched rest house while watching water birds at the water point.

Guide books on animals, birds and butterflies in the forest are available at the gate. Other important things you need while in the Forest are insect repellant to keep away insects, a pair of binoculars and a zoom camera. Bring a tent if you wish to stay overnight, or better still spend your night at a banda.

The park supports over 300 bird species, over 350 species of trees, 27 species of snakes – the wet weather makes placid. The forest is also home to over 400 species of butterflies, reptiles, mollusks and seven primate species.

The endangered Turner's eremomela, Charpins flycatcher and grey African parrot are also found here. The forest is also home to the endangered DeBrazza monkey found at Kisere Forest Reserve. The black and white colobus monkey, flying squirrels, blue monkey and potto (the world's slowest mammal), are among the attractions. Forest bucks, duikers and dik diks are found in this equatorial rain forest.

KFNR holds indigenous vegetation large age-old trees. Such as the precious Elgon teak, much prized for its hard wood, the stranglers (ficus thoningii) which grow from other trees and eventually strangle the hosts to death, and mkombero, a popular affrodiasc.

School parties can stay in the Forest while in Kakamega for co-curricular events. Students will be happy sleeping in camps. Teachers can put up for the night in bandas which have two to four beds and suitable for families. Self-catering luxurious bandas are under construction. Security is assured. Other accommodation facilities are found in in Kakamega town and the southern end of the forest.