Welcome to Kisumu!
Kisumu is a port city in western Kenya, located on a bay on the eastern shore of Lake Victoria at an altitude of 1,131 m (3,711 ft). It is the headquarters of Kisumu County and after Kampala, the second largest city in the Lake Victoria basin.
Kisumu is the third-largest city in Kenya after the capital, Nairobi, and the coastal city of Mombasa. It is the third-largest city (after Kampala, Uganda, and Mwanza, Tanzania) in the Lake Victoria Basin. Kisumu is not far from Kogelo, a village known for being the hometown of Barack Obama Sr., the father to the 44th president of the United States. Culturally, Kisumu serves as the headquarters of the Luo-speaking people of East Africa. It was the most prominent urban center in the pre-colonial, post-colonial, and modern era for natives of the Kavirondo region. Some of the most significant political events that have shaped the trajectory of Kenya have happened in Kisumu including the famous political spat between founding president of Kenya Jomo Kenyatta and founding vice president Jaramogi Odinga during the opening of Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital in 1969. Apart from being an important political city, it is one of the premier industrial and commercial centers in Kenya. The city is currently undergoing an urban rejuvenation of the downtown and lower town which includes modernizing the lakefront, decongesting main streets, and making the streets pedestrian-friendly.
Kisumu serves as the capital city of Kisumu County, Kenya, and has a population of 397,957 as per the Kenyan 2019 census. (The rural population of Kisumu County was 714,668 during the same census, indicating that the city comprises the majority of the urban residents in the county, whose total population was 1,155,574.) Kisumu is the immediate former capital of Nyanza Province, the headquarters of Kisumu County an important link in the trade route between Lake Victoria and Mombasa because of its water and rail connections. It is also the chief terminus for the agricultural produce of Nyanza and Western provinces. It is the largest and most important city in Western Kenya. Kisumu serves as a trading and transportation hub for the Great Lakes region in western Kenya. Kisumu International Airport has regular flights to Nairobi and other neighboring cities such as Mombasa. There are plans for flights to Mwanza Kigali, Kampala, Dar es Salaam, and Juba but they have yet to materialize. It is the second-most important city after Kampala in the greater Lake Victoria Basin although Mwanza has overtaken it in population size. According to the United Nations, is now recognized as a key city and a "Millennium City", the first of its kind in the world and also in East Africa. It is officially known as Kisumu City (and formerly Port Florence). Kisumu port was founded in 1901 as the main inland terminal of the Uganda Railway named "Port Florence". Although trade stagnated in the 1980s and 1990s, it is again growing around oil exports. Other names of the city includes Dala (Home of the Luos), Kisuma (place of barter trade), KC (short for Kisumu City), Odhumo (Nairobi sheng for Kisumu) and others. Residents of the city are known as "Kisumunians". Colloquially, residents may be called Luopeans in reference to the residents' taste for upper-class and high-end lifestyles as found in European cities like Milan, London, and Paris. It is not uncommon to hear residents say "Kisumu is like Europe."
The name Kisumu literally means a place of barter trade "sumo". The city has "Friendship" status with Cheltenham, United Kingdom and "sister city" status with Roanoke, Virginia and Boulder, Colorado, United States. Its elevation is 1,131 m (3,711 ft) above sea level. Kisumu is about 320 km (200 mi) northwest of Nairobi and its located at the shores of Lake Victoria. It lies at the northeastern edge of the Winam Gulf, a long, shallow arm that protrudes from the main body of Lake Victoria. Kisumu is set 24 km (15 mi) south of the Equator and has moderate temperatures because of its 1130 m elevation. Just four hours away by car is the massive Kenya National Game Preserve: the Maasai Mara, a world-renowned safari attraction. Since Kisumu is a few kilometers south of the Equator, daytime there always lasts about 12 hours, and local sunset always occurs between 18:40 and 19:00 local time. The metropolitan region comprises the city and its suburbs and satellite towns of Maseno, Kondele, and Ahero.