Kisumu - City of Kenya

Kisumu is a port city in western Kenya at 1,131 metres , with a population of 355,024. It is the third largest city in Kenya, the principal city of western Kenya, the capital of Nyanza Province and the headquarters of Kisumu District. It has no municipal charter. It is the largest city in Nyanza Province and second most important city after Kampala in the greater Lake Victoria basin.


Kisumu literally means a place of barter trade "sumo". The city has "Friendship" status with Cheltenham, UK and "Sister City" status with Roanoke, Virginia, USA.

Attractions in the city include Kibuye Market, the Kisumu Museum, an impala sanctuary, a bird sanctuary, Hippo Point, and the nearby Kit Mikaye and Ndere Island National Park.

Kisumu Museum, established in 1980, has a series of outdoor pavilions. Some of the pavilions contain live animals. For example, one pavilion contains numerous aquaria with a wide variety of fish from Lake Victoria, along with explanatory posters. Another pavilion contains terrarium containing mambas, spitting cobras, puff adders and other venomous Kenyan snakes. Additionally, out of doors, the museum has a few additional exhibits, including a snake pit and a crocodile container.

Kit Mikayi, a large rock with three rocks on top, and is located off Kisumu Bondo Road towards Bondo. It is a weeping rock; it is believed that Mikayi went up the hill to the stones when her husband took a second wife, and has been weeping ever since.