Arabuko Sokoke Forest

Arabuko Sokoke Forest is regarded as one of the richest birding hotspots in the world and has an extraordinarily high level of endemism and biological diversity. The forest has well-kept nature trails with excellent bird list year-round

Arabuko-Sokoke Forest Reserve is a 420-square-kilometer coastal forest in Kenya. Arabuko Forest is the largest fragment of the East African coastal forest ecosystem, which once extended from Somalia to Mozambique. It is an excellent forest for birding with rare, endemic, and much sought-after birds in any birding safari in Kenya

Arabuko Sokoke forest has three main forest types which are superb birding areas- these include the mixed forest in the east, on grey sands. This habitat is relatively dense, tall, and undifferentiated, with a diversity of tree species. Characteristic trees include Combretum, Drypetes , Afzelia , Dialium, Hymenaea , and Manilkara The Brachystegia woodland runs in a strip through the approximate center of the forest, on white, very infertile soil. Brachystegia eclipses the comparatively open habitat. In the west, on red Magarini sands, is Cynometra forest and thicket , dominated by Cynometra with Manilkara , and Brachylaena where the rare Arabuko Sokoke Scops Owl roosts and the shy East Coast Akalat may be found in the dense thickets. The transition between white and red soil is sudden and marked by a chain of seasonal ponds.

There are two areas of relatively tall Cynometra forest, with a canopy height of up to 20 meters, in the north and the South of this zone. Between these is a lower, scrubbier formation of intermediate Cynometra with a canopy height of 7-8 meters. The dry north-western part of the Reserve is covered by a low, dense, and often almost impenetrable Cynometra thicket ( 2,300 hectares ), with the canopy no more than 5 meters high.

The Arabuko-Sokoke forest is rich in wildlife ; the forest has 40 recorded mammal species some of which are rare, mostly among the fauna. Six species of butterflies endemic to the East African Coast are present, as well as three rare, near-endemic mammals: Golden-rumped Elephant Shrew , Ader’s Duiker ( found only in Arabuko Sokoke and Zanzibar ), and the distinctive Sokoke bushy-tailed Mongoose . There is also a population of the African Elephant , and the African Golden Cat , rare in Kenya . Unusual reptiles include the Green Keel-bellied Lizard, and the forest is exceptionally rich in amphibians, including coastal endemics such as Bunty’s Dwarf Toad.