Kisumu city
Kisumu is the third city of Kenya, on the Easternmost tip of Lake Victoria. The history of the town is tied to the railway and the lake. It started when the railway reached the lake in 1900. The town, then for a few years called Port Florence after Florence Preston, the wife of the senior railways engineer, consisted of a small Luo village, a ship yard, railways emplacement and a few houses for the colonial engineers and administrators who ran the show. For the British it was considered a rather bad posting, with (in their eyes) an unwholesome climate and dangerous diseases. Remember, malaria was not treatable at the time and because the cause was not known, people also did not know how to prevent it.
Gradually, however, Kisumu grew to be a sizable and lively town, with industries and a trading district that is still there. The demise of the first installment of the East African Community stopped a lot of traffic and trade in its tracks, but since a few years now the Kenyan economy is recovering and that is quite visible in Kisumu town. With its central position within the East African Community and on the lake, Kisumu seems ready for more growth and development in the coming years, as transport and service hub and perhaps also as administrative center for the EAC.
What is there to do and see?
- Kisumu Museum - For a first-time visitor to Western Kenya and Kisumu, strolling through the Kisumu Museum (part of the Government's Museums of Kenya agency) is a must. It won't take you long, between one and two hours max, but it gives you a good introduction to the local culture, flora and fauna. A bonus are the crafts stalls just outside the entrance. See below.
- Jubilee Market - one of the largest enclosed municipal markets in East Africa. Always busy, it has a huge variety of vegetables, fruits, spices, staples, fish, chicken and other food stuffs. The sights and smells are a rare experience.
- Impala Park - On the road to Dunga village, the Kisumu Impala Sanctuary (but everybody calls it Impala Park) is a small enclave run by Kenya Wildlife Service. In it, the last remnant of a herd of impala's that roamed the fields in and around Kisumu 50 years ago was given a safe place. Also housed here are a lion (which loudly calls for his friends every evening, always in vain...), a leopard, a hyena and two ostriches. According to KWS, all are displaced animals that were caught in a place where they should not have been. They now have a small cage and school classes that come to watch and sometimes tease them. The park itself is nice for a stroll along the Lake, but KWS recommends you to take a ranger along, possibly because of the group of baboons that live deeper inside.
- Kisumu Port - This is were the ships leave for Uganda and Tanzania. No passenger services yet, but it is a nice place to watch the activity and some of the oldest ships in East Africa. There are still steam ships around although there is a trend to convert them to diesel. The shipyard has produced ships for around 100 years and is still in use.
- Lake Victoria - Kisumu is on the Winam Gulf, part of Lake Victoria. Coming from Nairobi or otherwise from the East, this is the first stretch of Lake Victoria you encounter. The Lake has its own page.
- Kisumu's famous sunsets - Even in Africa the sun sets in the West and in Kisumu that means over the Lake. The sunsets are often magnificent or better. BTW, Kisumu is just a few kilometers South of the equator, so the days are always around 12 hours long and sunset is always between 1840h and 1900h. Find a good spot on the lake or a high place with a good view of the Western horizon.
- Crafts & gifts - See the shopping page The craft stalls near the Kisumu Museum are among the best in the whole region!
- Movies - Kisumu has four modern movie screens in two theaters. Go to our b2bKenya.com website to find the complete movie schedules for today and the coming days (and not just for Kisumu!).
Where can I stay?
Kisumu has a wide range of place to stay, from basic & cheap hostels to luxury hotels and even a luxury tented camp on the lake shore.
Our suggestions (links open in a new window):
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