Arabuko Sokoke National Park is located on a coastal Strip in Kilifi District next to Watamu and Malindi parks and reserve covering an area of 6 km sq. Arabuko Sokoke was proclaimed a Crown Forest and established in 1943. Part of the forest was later gazetted as a strict nature reserve in the late 1960s. The reserve lays a few kilometers inland, between the towns of Kilifi and Malindi, 110 km north of Mombasa. The tropical forest is the largest in eastern African coast covering 417sq.km. and is a significant habitat for prevalent and endangered birds, insects and mammal species. This forest is of untold beauty filled with the singing of rare birds and buzzing of insects, the trees are home to hoping monkeys. Major attractions here are common bird species, butterflies, and remnant coastal forest. Climate is very favorable for a holiday mood with an average annual rainfall that ranges from 900mm in the dry and scrubby northwest to 1100mm in the east. Activities available are bird watching and walking trails.
Hotels near the Park are Turtle Bay Beach Club; Temple Point Village; Ocean Sports; Hemingways; Blue Bay Village; Barracuda Inn; Mrs. Simpson’s. Kipepeo Butterfly Farm
Next to the entrance to Gedi ruins is Kenya's first working butterfly farm, Kipepeo ("butterfly" in Swahili). This is a community project that supports the local residents who benefit from living near the forest by exporting the natural resource to overseas market for exotic butterflies. Adult butterflies are caught with a net, and are fed on special plants eaten by their caterpillars, encouraging them to lay eggs. When the caterpillars hatched, they are looked after and continue to be fed until they pupate, at which point the chrysalises are taken to the butterfly farm, where they are shipped to foreign customers and the breeders paid for their trouble.
150 local farmers were trained to look after butterfly larvae feeding them with leaves from the local trees. Kipepeo raises the eggs and supplies the newly hatched larvae to the farmers, who look after the caterpillars and sell the pupae back to Kipepeo. The farm generates the adult butterfly for export to Europe and America, either as conserved specimens for museum collections or as insects living for other farms or displays.
Some pupae are reserved for the farm to restock and the ones that are not sold are returned to the wild to replenish and thus the project sustains itself. Visitors to the farm see the butterflies in their various stages of development: from larva (caterpillar) through pupa (chrysalis) to adult (butterfly). The farmers have a renewable source of income and are also engaged in for the conservation of the forest. Local handicrafts are on display, as well as locally produced honey on sale.
Bio-Ken is a research centre
Bio-Ken is a research centre that deals with reptiles, especially snakes and snake-bite. Located less than 5 minutes drive from the hotels in Watamu - Kenya, it houses the largest collection of Snakes in East Africa and is open to the public. There are about 127 different snake species in Kenya. Of these only 18 have caused human fatalities and only another 6 could kill you. Another 10 could cause you a lot of pain and the remaining 93 or so, are neither non-venomous nor dangerous.
Gede Museum
Gede Ruins is a 12th Century Swahili village that was mysteriously abandoned some 600 years ago due to unknown causes. It is now a National Museum under the National Museums of Kenya
| 
