Western Kenya Circuit
Western Kenya descends away from Nairobi, the major game parks, and the coast, down to the stage of Lake Victoria, much like the levels of a large amphitheatre. This region of dense agricultural, rolling green valleys, and pockets of deep jungle is one of the least visited parts of the country, cut off by the high Rift wall of the Mau and Elgeyo escarpments. Although it is more accessible than the far north or even some of the larger parks, it has been overlooked by safari operators – which may work to your benefit as a tourist. You can travel for days across lush landscapes from one bustling market village to the next with few, if any, other tourists.
It’s difficult to understand why western Kenya circuit has been so overlooked, and there’s a lot more to see and do than the tourist literature’s scant coverage would imply. While the west may not have teeming herds of animals hunted by lions or egotistical warriors in full regalia, it does have a number of delightfully low-key, easily accessible attractions. For starters, there are national parks: Kakamega Forest, a magnificent tract of equatorial rainforest teeming with species found nowhere else in Kenya; Saiwa Swamp, where walking allows you to get up close and personal with the rare sitatunga antelope; Ruma, where a lush valley is home to reticulated giraffe, roan antelope, and black rhinos; and Mount Elgon, an extinct volcano to rival Mount Kenya in everything but crowds.
Lake Victoria is the obvious destination in the west, with its out-of-the-way islands, wonderfully friendly people, and the region’s biggest town, Kisumu, on its beaches. The Western Highlands rise in a large basin around Lake Victoria, populated with a string of active settlements.
While Eldoret and Kakamega are mostly route hubs with little to offer travelers, Kisii has a few of worthwhile excursions, Kericho, the tea capital, is well worth an overnight stay, and Kitale has several fascinating museums. Away from the city, much of the west is ravishingly beautiful, especially in places of heavy farming: thickly active jungle near Kakamega and Kitale, regimented vistas of tea plants around Kericho, and many sections of swamp and grassland teeming with life.
Ethnically, the region is dominated by the Luo on the lakeshore, but there are Bantu-speaking Luhya in the sugar lands, north of Kisumu, and Gusii in the formidably fertile Kisii Hills. Other important groups speak one or other of the Kalenjin languages, principally the Nandi, around Eldoret, and theKipsigis in the district around Kericho. And of course there are thousands of migrants from other parts of Kenya.