The last big stand of the forest that once lined the whole East African coast, home to birds and mammals found almost nowhere else, and a short drive from a mangrove creek where a boardwalk takes you out over the mudflats at high tide.
Arabuko-Sokoke is the largest surviving piece of East African coastal dry forest, about 100 km north of Mombasa near Watamu, and one of the most important bird forests on the continent.
A guided 4 km nature trail takes two to four hours, depending on how long you stop to look. It passes through open woodland, a dense red thicket of Cynometra, two tree platforms built for watching wildlife, and the Nyari viewpoint on a red sand cliff overlooking the forest canopy.
Good guides know where to find the forest's specialities: the golden-rumped elephant shrew, a long-nosed, russet mammal that rustles through the leaf litter, and, after dark, the tiny Sokoke scops owl. Guides from the visitor centre also know the birds that draw birders from around the world.
A short drive away, Mida Creek is a tidal inlet fringed by mangroves. A community-run boardwalk of under a kilometre leads through the trees and out to a hide over the mudflats, where waders gather as the tide turns. Best at dawn, or late afternoon for the creek birdlife.
Start in the forest while it is cool, then fit the creek around the tide.
Pay the entry fee at the visitor centre on the Malindi road and set off while the birds are active.
Lighter woodland with sandy tracks; watch the ground for elephant shrews.
A dense, low forest on red soil; use the tree platforms to look out over it.
A red sand cliff with a view over the forest canopy to the coast.
Walk through the mangroves to the hide and watch the waders as the tide comes in.
Stay in Watamu or Malindi, or leave Mombasa very early; the drive north takes two to three hours.
Book a guide at the visitor centre; they know where to look and greatly improve your chances of seeing the rare species.
Pay forest entry at the visitor centre and the boardwalk fee at Mida Creek; check current rates on arrival.
Mombasa practical notes →Wikimedia Commons photographs are used under their licences.
