Kakamega town is in western Kenya lying about 30 km north of the Equator. It is the provincial headquarters of Western Province. It is also headquarters to the Kakamega District which is one of the eight districts of Western Province.  Kakamega is 52 km north of Kisumu, the third largest city in Kenya and a port city on Lake Victoria.

Local Inhabitants are mostly the Luhya tribe, whose economic activity is mainly farming and fishing.

Kakamega serves as the headquarters of Kenya’s largest sugar producing firm, Mumias Sugar, located in the village of Mumias.

Kakamega was the scene of the Kakamega gold rush in the early 1930′s, fueled partly by the reports of the geologist Albert Ernest Kitson.

Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology is a new institution of higher learning created by an act of parliament in December 2006 is in the heart of Kakamega town on the Kakamega- Webuye road. It is expected to spur growth in this capital of Western Province.

Kakamega Forest is the main tourist destination in the area. Another attraction is the Crying Stone of Ilesi located along the highway towards Kisumu. It is a 40 metres high rock dome resembling a human figure whose “eyes” drop water.

Administration

Kakamega forms a municipality with ten wards (Amalemba, Bukhulunya, Central, Mahiakalo, Maraba, Matende, Milimani, Musaa, Shibiriri and Sichilayi). All of them belong to Lurambi Constituency, which has a total of fifteen wards. The remaining five are located within Kakamega County Council, the rural council of Kakamega District.

Rainforest

Kakamega area receives a very high amount of annual precipitation and contains Kakamega Forest, a preserve which is a remnant of a rainforest that stretched west through Uganda.

As a rainforest, the canopy of the trees has grown into a thin mesh of interlocking top branches that block most sunlight from reaching the ground below, resulting in less vegetation at the ground level. With few bushes along the darkened forest floor, the main obstacle is ancient fallen tree trunks blocking the paths between the standing trees. The German funded project BIOTA East is working in the forest since 2001, whereby firstly forest inventories for all sorts of life forms were performed and the aim is to find strategies for a sustainable use of the forest.

More than 400 species of birds have been found in the Kakamega rainforest. The many song birds fill the air with various birdcalls.

Kakamega is also home to Africa’s largest and most aggressive cobra, the Kakamega forest cobra. Reputed by locals to spend a lot of time in the trees, stories abound of fearsome attacks on unsuspecting passers-by. Other snakes in the area include the forest adder, black mamba, and the green mamba.