- Kakamega Forest
Kakamega Forest is situated in Western Province
Kenya , north-west of the capitalNairobi , and near to the border withUganda . It is said to be Kenya's last remnant of the ancientGuineo-Congolian rainforest that once spanned the continent.Including reserves, the forest encloses about 230 square kilometres, a little less than half of which currently remains as indigenous forest. There are numerous grassy clearings and glades. The Forest's huge variety of birds, reptiles and insects make it a specialist eco-tourism attraction for bird-watchers and wildlife photographers. There is no major tourism, and the Kakamega Forest is not a safari destination. Large mammals are rare. Part of the forest also contain unique and rich highland ecosystems, but generally the fauna and flora of the Forest have not been comprehensively studied by science. The climate is very wet with over two metres of rain annually. The rainy seasons are April-to-May and August-to-September.
In the north of the Forest is the convert|4468|ha|km2 sqmi|lk=on|0 Kakamega National Reserve, given national forest reserve status in
1985 . [ [http://sea.unep-wcmc.org/wdbpa/sitedetails.cfm?siteid=7420&level=nat World Database on Protected Areas – Kakamega National Reserve] ] Just to the north is theKisere Forest Reserve . Despite having protected status the Forest has continued to be damaged and degraded. The Forest Department and the Kenya Wildlife Service work to protect the forest. The local inhabitants are theLuhya people, who rely on the forest to supply most of their needs. The region is said to be one of the most densely-populated rural areas in the world, and pressure on the Forest resources is considerable. 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 until 2010.The major A1 road runs down the western edge of the area.
References
External links
* [http://www.kws.org/kakamega.html Kenya Wildlife Service – Kakamega Forest National Reserve]
* [http://sea.unep-wcmc.org/wdbpa/sitedetails.cfm?siteid=7420&level=nat World Database on Protected Areas – Kakamega National Reserve]
* [http://www.earlham.edu/biology/content/Kakamega/ Earlham College's Kakamega pages]
* [http://www.uky.edu/~cfox/Students/Savalli/KakaBirdList.html Checklist of Kakamega bird species]
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