Kakamega Forest Birding Expedition — 4 Days
Great Blue Turacos, grey parrots, and a forest forty million years in the making
Gallery
Kakamega Forest is an ecological island — the easternmost remnant of the great Congo Basin rainforest that once stretched unbroken across equatorial Africa. During the Miocene epoch, about 20 million years ago, the forest was connected to the jungles of what are now the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. Today, it sits isolated in western Kenya, about 240 square kilometres of Guineo-Congolian forest surrounded by farmland. The isolation has produced a unique mix of species found nowhere else in Kenya. There are 330 bird species here, including 40 that occur nowhere else in the country. The Great Blue Turaco — a turkey-sized bird with shimmering blue-green plumage and a red-and-yellow bill — is the forest's signature species, moving through the upper canopy in family groups of three to six. The Black-and-white-casqued Hornbill, with its massive casque and deep honking call, is the largest hornbill in Kenya. Grey Parrots, the iconic African parrot now endangered by the pet trade, roost in large numbers at dusk. The butterfly diversity — over 400 species — makes Kakamega one of Africa's most important butterfly sites. Primates include black-and-white colobus, red-tailed monkey, blue monkey, and olive baboon. The best birding is at dawn, when the forest erupts in a chorus of calls. Night walks, permitted with a ranger, reveal bush babies, tree frogs, chameleons, and pottos.
Book This Tour
Fill in the form below and we'll get back to you.
What's Included
- Transport in a safari van from Nairobi/Kisumu
- Professional English-speaking specialist birding guide
- Kakamega Forest Reserve entrance fees
- 3 nights accommodation at forest lodge or guesthouse (full-board)
- All meals (lunch day 1 to lunch day 4)
- Guided forest walks (dawn and mid-morning daily)
- Night walk for amphibians and nocturnal mammals
- Bottled drinking water
- Checklist of Kakamega bird and butterfly species
Not Included
- Alcoholic and soft drinks
- Birding and photography equipment (binoculars, cameras — available for rent)
- Souvenirs and personal purchases
- Tips and gratuities
- Travel insurance
Itinerary
Day-by-day breakdown of your adventure
Nairobi to Kakamega — Afternoon Forest Walk
An early start — 5:30 AM departure from Nairobi — for the long drive west through the Rift Valley, past Eldoret, and into the green hills of western Kenya. After a stop for lunch in Eldoret, arrive at Kakamega Forest by mid-afternoon. The air here is different from anywhere else in Kenya: humid, thick, and heavy with the smell of wet earth and rotting leaves. Check into your forest lodge or guesthouse — you are deep in the forest now, with the calls of black-and-white-casqued hornbills echoing through the canopy. Late afternoon walk on the trails around the guesthouse. Within 30 minutes, your guide will have found birds: the gorgeous bushshrike, grey-throated barbet, blue-headed bee-eater, and the tiny black-faced rufous warbler skulking in the undergrowth. After sunset, a night walk on the forest tracks. Your guide sweeps a flashlight beam into the trees and finds bush babies — eastern needle-clawed galagos — and chameleons frozen on branches. The red eyes of tree frogs glow back at you.
Full Day Forest Birding
Wake before dawn. The forest at sunrise is cacophonous — cicadas, birds, and the drumming of colobus monkeys. Walk to the Udo's Hill area, the richest birding section of the forest. Your guide sets up a spotting scope along the track and within the first hour of good light you should see the Great Blue Turaco, a turkey-sized bird with turquoise-blue body, yellow face, and crimson wing patches that moves through the canopy in small family groups. Other morning targets: the black-and-white-casqued hornbill (one of the largest hornbills in the world), the blue-headed bee-eater hawking insects from a bare branch, the grey parrot screeching overhead, and the great blue turaco appearing silent and deliberate along a high branch. The forest is divided by a series of glades and tracks. Walking slowly up the main track yields yellowbill, red-headed bluebill, Ansorge's greenbul, and the tiny grey-headed negrofinch. The Lirhanda Hill area, where the forest meets a giant rock outcrop, often produces Mackinnon's shrike and white-chinned prinia in the scrubbier edges. After a packed lunch in the forest, walk the southern trails towards the Isiukhu River. This area is good for Chapin's flycatcher (globally threatened) and Turner's eremomela. By late afternoon your day list is likely north of 80 species — a good day in Kakamega. Evening at leisure at the guesthouse.
Northern Section & Butterfly Hotspot
After breakfast, drive to the northern section of the forest (Buyangu area). The habitat here is slightly different — more open canopy, a mix of primary and secondary forest — which means different birds. Blue-headed bee-eaters sit on exposed perches. Black-billed turacos replace the Great Blue Turaco in this section. Banded prinias call from the grass verges. African crowned eagles soar overhead. By midday, visit the butterfly hotspots: the forest edges and stream crossings where hundreds of swallowtails, charaxes, and acraeas gather on wet sand to drink minerals. The giant blue swallowtail and the green-banded swallowtail are the prize species. Lunch at a local restaurant outside the forest. The afternoon is yours to revisit favourite trails, photograph monkeys (red-tailed monkey, blue monkey, black-and-white colobus), or simply sit on the guesthouse veranda and let the forest come to you — hornbills, turacos, and paradise flycatchers all pass through the garden. Second night walk if you wish.
Dawn Birding — Return to Nairobi
Last dawn in the forest. Walk the guesthouse trails one more time, looking for anything missed: the scarce swift, the yellow-spotted barbet, the equatorial akalat — a robin-like bird that skulks in the densest undergrowth. After a full breakfast, begin the long drive back to Nairobi, arriving in the evening. Flight option available: fly from Kisumu back to Nairobi instead of driving.
Explore More of Kenya
Check out our other tour packages and find your perfect Kenya adventure.
View All Tours