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Kenya Kenya forest

Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests

Victor Ochieng from London, United Kingdom · CC BY-SA 2.0

61% trees around it and 141 species recorded.

73Forestyas Score

ForestWorld Heritage

  • trees within 3 km61%
  • wild within 10 km93%
  • species recorded141
  • Altitude156 m

The forest around

61% trees.

Read like the rings of a cut trunk: from the centre out, the land within 1, 3, 6 and 10 km, coloured by what covers it.

Trees 91%Shrubland 4%Grassland 5%Trees 58%Shrubland 12%Grassland 27%Wetland 0%Cropland 1%Built-up 2%Trees 30%Mangroves 1%Shrubland 20%Grassland 43%Wetland 1%Water 0%Bare ground 1%Cropland 1%Built-up 2%Trees 21%Mangroves 3%Shrubland 16%Grassland 45%Wetland 2%Water 1%Bare ground 3%Cropland 1%Built-up 8%61%trees · 3 km

Trees, ring by ring

  • 0–1 km91%
  • 1–3 km58%
  • 3–6 km30%
  • 6–10 km21%

What covers the land (1–3 km)

  • Trees58%
  • Mangroves0%
  • Shrubland12%
  • Grassland27%
  • Wetland0%
  • Water0%
  • Bare ground0%
  • Cropland1%
  • Built-up2%

ESA WorldCover 2021 (10 m, from Sentinel satellites), sampled every 120 m. A clearing, a road or a lake counts as what it is.

Who lives here

141 species recorded.

The plants, fungi, birds and mammals people have recorded here most often.

Rice
RiceOryza sativa8 recordsLeo Michels · Public domain
Polysphaeria multiflora
Polysphaeria multifloraPolysphaeria multiflora7 recordsTonton Bernardo · CC BY-SA 4.0
Bread and cheese
Bread and cheesePaullinia pinnata6 recordsMarco Schmidt · CC BY-SA 2.5
Landolphia parvifolia
Landolphia parvifoliaLandolphia parvifolia6 recordsHerbarium of the University of Coimbra (COI) · CC BY 4.0
Dorstenia hildebrandtii
Dorstenia hildebrandtiiDorstenia hildebrandtii6 recordsFrank Vincentz · CC BY-SA 3.0
Palmyra palm
Palmyra palmBorassus aethiopum5 recordsMarco Schmidt [1] · CC BY-SA 3.0
Butterfly pea
Butterfly peaClitoria ternatea5 recordsSuyash.dwivedi · CC BY-SA 4.0
Mimosa pigra
Mimosa pigraMimosa pigra4 recordsWibowo Djatmiko ( Wie146 ) · CC BY-SA 3.0
Rauvolfia mombasianaRauvolfia mombasiana11 records
Meineckia fruticansMeineckia fruticans6 records
Monanthotaxis trichocarpaMonanthotaxis trichocarpa6 records
Dorstenia taylorianaDorstenia tayloriana6 records

Open records within 5 km (GBIF, licensed for any use). Busy places are better recorded than remote ones.

In numbers

The forest, measured.

73out of 100

Our own rating, from open data only: tree cover (40 points), wildness (20), species recorded (30) and protection or heritage (10).

  • 61%Treesof the land within 3 km
  • 93%Wildno towns or farmland within 10 km
  • 141Speciesrecorded more than once within 5 km
  • 156 mAltitudeabove the sea

When to walk

Best for walking from July to August.

How good each month is for a walk: mild days and little rain make the bar taller.

  1. Jan33°22°24 mm
  2. Feb34°23°15 mm
  3. Mar33°23°62 mm
  4. Apr31°23°129 mm
  5. May29°22°217 mm
  6. Jun28°21°74 mm
  7. Jul28°20°36 mm
  8. Aug29°20°29 mm
  9. Sep30°20°38 mm
  10. Oct31°21°98 mm
  11. Nov31°22°104 mm
  12. Dec32°23°69 mm
  • Bar: walking comfort; the number on top is the average maximum.
  • Below: average minimum (NASA, 1991–2020).
  • Rain: monthly total.

The place

Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests.

Forest in Kenya

Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests is a forest in Kenya.

Seen from space, 61% of the land within 3 km is trees, and 93% of the land within 10 km has no towns or farmland.

141 species have been recorded around it: 89 plants, 0 fungi, 49 birds and 3 mammals.

The most recorded plants are: Rice, Polysphaeria multiflora and Bread and cheese.

The best time to walk is from July to August.

Kaya-skog
Victor Ochieng from London, United Kingdom · CC BY-SA 2.0

Get there and walk

Plan the visit

A guided walk, a bed nearby, a car.

Car hire at MBA airport (Mombasa)Discover CarsSee prices 

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

From above

The forest and its surroundings.

The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the place, with the trails, notable trees, picnic sites and huts that OpenStreetMap shows.

Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests seen from above (Sentinel-2)
Seen from above: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6 × 6 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Around, in OpenStreetMap

  • 8places to stay within 10 kmCoastgate Hotel. Miritni, Coastgate Hotel, Cingaki and 5 more
  • marked trails within 5 km
  • named and notable trees within 6 km
  • picnic sites within 4 km
  • shelters and huts within 6 km
  • viewpoints within 5 km
  • visitor centres within 6 km
  • car parks within 3 km
  • campsites within 10 km
  • restaurants and cafés within 3 km

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.

In our other atlases

Around Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests.

The mountains, lakes, rivers, waterfalls and canyons around this forest, the viewpoints above it, the birds and the night sky, in the family's atlases.

Peakyas5 mountains within 25 km
Kigangoni11 kmKizingo18 kmGona19 kmTangila24 kmKaya Mtae25 km
Riveryasthe river nearby
Tudor Creek

Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.

Other forests nearby.

Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests

Kenya

  • 73Forestyas Score
  • 61%Trees
  • 93%Wild
  • 141Species

Amani Nature Reserve

Tanzania · 164 km

  • 88Forestyas Score
  • 96%Trees
  • 100%Wild
  • 1,042Species

See the guide

Ngezi Forest Reserve

Tanzania · 110 km

  • 61Forestyas Score
  • 42%Trees
  • 99%Wild
  • 183Species

See the guide

Where these figures come from

Name and typeWikidata (Q1362222) · CC0
Land coverESA WorldCover 10 m 2021 v200 · © ESA WorldCover project / Copernicus Sentinel data · CC BY 4.0
Species644 open records within 5 km (GBIF, CC0 and CC BY 4.0 only)
See these recordsgbif.org
Names and photosWikidata (CC0); GBIF Backbone Taxonomy · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
AltitudeCopernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Temperature and rainNASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2)
What is around© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Sister atlasesPeakyas, Riveryas

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit cavesCavernyasEvery cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.Visit dark skiesDarkskyasWhere the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Visit
viewpointsViewyasEvery viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.Coming soonVisit
birdwatchingBirdyasEvery bird sanctuary and wetland with the species recorded month by month: who is resident, who comes for the summer, who only passes through.Visit
forestsForestyasEvery forest with its land-cover rings, what grows and lives in it, and the best months to walk it.You are here