In the heartlands of the Luhya tribe, Kakamega breathes rural Kenyan life from every one of its ramshackle huts and mud-spattered rises. Its roadways are covered with dust, kicked up by the rattling carts of local farmers and the rickety wagons of fishermen fresh from the trawlers of Lake Victoria to the south.

Travellers to this area tend to head straight for the nearby borders of the Kakamega Forest Reserve and national park just to the east—eager to spy out some of the last primeval rainforest that once dominated all of Africa. The grasslands burst forth with life, from bush pig to blue monkeys, and baboons to blooming orchids; its hiking trails offer up wondrous sights like the legendary Mama Mtere tree, and the tips of the canopies reveal elgon teaks vying with strangler figs to boot.

A visit to the town major should allow plenty of time for your Kakamega tour guide to showcase the settlement’s major attractions and cultural nuances—from the mysteriously voodoo Crying Stone of Ilesi, to the earthy flavours of ugali maize.