Some 250 miles west of Nairobi lies Kisumu City. Kisumu is the third largest city in Kenya, and is located on the Eastern shores of Lake Victoria - the second largest freshwater lake in the world. Kisumu city is the administrative headquarters of Nyanza Province and is the major town in western Kenya’s.

 

• Map of Kisumu       

• Kisumu hotels    

• Kisumu tours

• Kisumu safaris

History

 

The name Kisumu is said to be derived from a Luo word called ‘kisuma’ which means a place where the hunger stricken can go and get food provisions. In olden days, it is told that people would walk from far and wide to come to Kisumu to get help during times of drought.

 

The city was founded as a railway terminus and internal port (for the east African states) in 1901. Kisumu was conveniently located at the end of the of the railway network which started from Mombasa, as it was meant to be an interconnecting point for the whole of the Lake Shore states

Access:

By road: 6 hours drive from Nairobi in a private car and 8 hours in public transport.

By rail: There is an overnight train that departs Nairobi everyday in the evening.

Flight: Kenya Airways, Air Kenya and many private airlines service the Kisumu – Nairobi route.

 

Kisumu historical news

1901

Dec 20, 1901 - The 20th of December 1901, chief engineer Ronald Preston's wife laid the last rail in Port Florence, today Kisumu, at the shores of Lake Victoria. The last stretch from Kisumu to Kampala would follow later on. Thus ended the construction of one of the great engineering works in the history of Kenya, which still today is an essential artery in East African communications. 

1945

Jul 11, 1945 - Douglas C-47 plane operated by South African Air Force crashed into Lake Victoria soon after taking off from Kisumu Airport on July 11, 1945. All 28 on board died.