The Crying Stone of Ilesi is a 40-metre block of granite that rises straight out of a low hill ten kilometres west of Kakamega town, with a perched boulder near its summit and a permanent trickle of water running down its face. The result, from a distance, is the impression of a giant weeping head — and the Luhya stories that have grown up around it treat it as exactly that.
A visit takes an hour. There is a small entrance fee paid to the local community, after which a guide will take you to the base of the rock and explain the traditions surrounding it. The walk to the top is steep but short, and the views from the summit run for many miles across the green farmland of Western Province. Combine with a stop at the pottery village of Ilesi, immediately below, where the women still throw cooking pots and water jars on a foot-driven wheel.