Tim's and Lara Beth's Kenya Page

Kitale

Having lived in Kitale for two and a half years, I can honestly say that it is not the most exciting place to visit in Kenya. That said, this small town in western Kenya actually has more to offer than might first be imagined.

Kitale, originally called Quitale, started as a relay station on the slave route between Uganda and Tanzania. Slaves were quartered at what is now the Kitale Club. The present town was founded in 1920, and its trade in vegetables, fruit, and livestock exploded with the arrival of the railroad in 1925. Although this growth slowed forty years later, Kitale is still well known for its agriculture.

Although Kitale itself offers little except a pleasant township with a couple of restaurants, it does contain a surprisingly good little museum. The Kitale Museum, or the Museum of Western Kenya, originated on a Lieutenant Colonel's farm in 1927 and was moved to its present location in 1972. It has an interesting variety of displays, including a snake pit, some ethnographic exhibits, a nature trail, and a 1916 belt-driven BSA motorcycle. The museum also showed nature films when we lived there, but I don't know if it still does. (One of the more popular ones dealt with the massive migration of the Wildebeest herds, and at one time I knew more than I cared to about the subject.)

The other interesting points in the area are located around Kitale and it is possible to use the town as a base for further exploration. One such site is an extinct volcano called Mount Elgon, which is located to the west of Kitale in Mount Elgon National Park. Saiwa Swamp National Park is the country's smallest park and is worth a visit if you head north about 24 kilometers (15 miles). It is notable mainly for a rare, swamp-dwelling antelope which lives there, the sitatunga. Observation platforms have been built, and the Park is apparantly one of the few places where this rather timid animal has grown accustomed to people. Colobus, vervet, blue, and rare De Brazza monkeys, as well as a great number of birds and the ever present bushbuck also inhabit the park.

Home	Anthem	Map	Language	History	Culture
Home	People	US Govt Info	Sports	Links	Search