Western Kenya

For many travellers, the magic of western Kenya is summed up in two poetic words: Masai Mara. Few places on earth support such high concentrations of animals, and the Mara’s wildebeest-spotted savannahs, where drama unfolds on a daily basis, are undeniably the region’s star attraction. The Maasai bring cachet to their lands and your encounters with this ancient people are likely to be the soulful highlight of your journey.

But there's much more to western Kenya than these plains of herbivores and carnivores. The dense forests of Kakamega are buzzing with weird and wonderful creatures, the rain-soaked hills of Kericho and their verdant tea gardens bring new meaning to the word ‘green’, and amid the boat-speckled waters of Lake Victoria lies a smattering of seldom-visited islands crying out for exploration.

Top attractions

These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Western Kenya.

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Masai Mara National Reserve
The world-renowned Masai Mara National Reserve needs little in the way of introduction. Its tawny, wildlife-stuffed savannahs are familiar to anyone who has watched nature documentaries. Reliable rains and plentiful vegetation underpin this extraordinary ecosystem and the millions of herbivores it supports. Wildebeest, zebras, impalas, elephants, Masai giraffes and several species of gazelle all call the Mara home. This vast concentration of game accounts for high predator numbers, including cheetahs, leopards and the highest lion densities in the world.
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Mt Elgon National Park
Straddling the Ugandan border and peaking with Koitoboss (4187m), Kenya’s second-highest peak, and Uganda’s Wagagai (4321m), the slopes of Mt Elgon are a sight indeed – or at least they would be if they weren't buried under a blanket of mist and drizzle most of the time. While there are plenty of interesting wildlife and plants here, the real reason people visit Mt Elgon National Park is to stand atop the summit high above Kenya and Uganda.
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Kakamega Forest National Reserve
All that's now left in Kenya of the massive Guineo–Congolian rainforest that once covered much of western Kenya, the Kakamega Forest National Reserve, though seriously degraded, is unique in Kenya and contains plants, animals and birds that occur nowhere else in the country. The reserve is especially good for birders, but is also home to several primates, including de Brazza's monkeys, colobus monkeys, black-cheeked-white-nosed monkeys and Sykes monkeys.
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Saiwa Swamp National Park
North of Kitale, the small, rarely visited Saiwa Swamp National Park is a real treat – as long as you're not here for the Big Five, this is a chance to tick off some real safari highlights. Originally set up to preserve the habitat of Kenya’s only population of sitatunga antelope, the 15.5-sq-km reserve is also home to blue, vervet and de Brazza’s monkeys and some 370 species of birds.
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Kakamega Forest Reserve
Kakamega Forest Reserve is the more degraded area of the forest, yet it's the more popular area with tourists. The five-hour return hike to Lirhanda Hill for sunrise or sunset is highly recommended. An interesting short walk (2.6km) to a 35m-high watchtower affords views over the forest canopy and small grassland.
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Tom Mboya’s Mausoleum
A child of Rusinga, Mboya was one of the few Luo people to achieve political success. He held a huge amount of influence as Jomo Kenyatta’s right-hand man and was widely tipped to become Kenya’s second president before he was assassinated in 1969. His tomb and a small museum dedicated to his life are on the island’s north side. The inscription on his tombstone begins 'Go and fight like this man…'.
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Thimlich Ohinga Archaeological Site
South of Ruma National Park, this is one of East Africa’s most important archaeological sites. It holds the remains of a dry-stone enclosure, 150m in diameter and containing another five smaller enclosures, thought to date back as far as the 15th century. Its name translates in Luo as 'frightening dense forest'.
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Ruma National Park
Bordered by the dramatic Kanyamaa Escarpment, and home to Kenya’s only population of roans (one of Africa’s rarest and largest antelope), is the seldom-visited, 120-sq-km Ruma National Park. Besides roan, other rarities like Bohor’s reedbuck, Jackson’s hartebeest, the tiny oribi antelope and Kenya’s largest concentration of the endangered Rothschild’s giraffe can also be seen here. However, the most treasured residents are some (very-hard-to-see) rhinos, both black and white, that have been translocated from other parks.
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Kitale Museum
Founded on the collection of butterflies, birds and ethnographic memorabilia left to the nation in 1967 by the late Lieutenant Colonel Stoneham, this museum has an interesting range of ethnographic displays of the Pokot, Akamba, Marakwet and Turkana peoples. There are also any number of stuffed dead things shot by various colonial types, including a hedgehog and a cheetah with a lopsided face.