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Kakamega rain forest Kenya
Kakamega Forest is
world famous for the diversity of bird and insect life, and
its uniqueness makes its conservation a top priority.
Kakamega rain Forest is Kenya's only remaining patch of the
Guineo-Congolian rainforest, a rainforest that once spanned
west and central Africa with its easternmost edge in western
Kenya. In Kenya and west Africa today, this rainforest
exists as relatively small islands of habitat surrounded by
savannah and human settlement. Like many of these forest
islands, Kakamega forest has been shrinking rapidly as human
population growth and resource extraction have increased
tremendously in the last century. Although Kakamega Forest
is somewhat protected as a government reserve, the Luhya
people who live in areas surrounding the forest still rely
heavily on the forest for basic needs such as fuel wood,
charcoal, timber, poles, and other building materials.
Currently, this region is the most dense rural population in
the world. The pressures on the limited resources of
Kakamega Forest will only increase, and so efforts to manage
the forest's resources sustain ably will be crucial to the
survival of this vulnerable ecosystem.
Kakamega Forest covers an area
of about 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 affinities are
unique in Kenya and the forest contains many species found
nowhere else in the country.
The forest lies in the Lake
Victoria catchments, about 50km north of Kisumu town and just
West of the Nandi Escarpment that forms the edge of the
central highlands. It was first gazetted as a trust forest
in 1933 and two small Nature reserves, Yala and lsecheno
were established within the forest in 1967 In 1985, nearly
4400ha of the northern portion of the forest together with
the adjacent Kisere Forest were gazetted as Kakamega Forest
National Reserve. The forest is an important water catchment
area with the lsiukhu and Yala Rivers flowing through it.
The terrain is undulating with often steep sided river
valleys.
Accommodation options at Kakamega forest include;
Rondo retreat centre
Udo Bandas
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