The reason to be in Kakamega is the forest. The town itself is a stop, not a destination — a low-rise provincial capital that serves the surrounding farming country. The forest, by contrast, is the easternmost surviving fragment of the Guineo-Congolian rainforest that once stretched across the centre of the continent, and it is unique in Kenya: hundreds of bird species, several monkey species not found elsewhere in the country, butterflies in numbers and varieties that no Kenyan park can match.
Two practical bases serve the forest. The Buyangu Hill station on the northern side is the Kenya Wildlife Service's main entry point, with guided walks and an observation hill above the forest canopy. The Isecheno gate on the southern side is run by the Kenya Forest Service and is the launching point for the longer walking routes into the heart of the forest. The atmospheric old missionary cabin at Rondo Retreat is the most comfortable place to stay inside the forest itself.
For something with a more local register, the granite outcrop of the Crying Stone of Ilesi and the bullfights held in the villages around town on Saturday mornings — a peculiarly Luhya tradition in which prize bulls are encouraged to push each other around a dusty arena while a brass band plays — are both worth a half-day if your visit coincides.