Mount Kasigau is located in the Taita Taveta District in southwest Kenya. The District is a dispersal area for wildlife that seasonally migrate between Tsavo East and Tsavo West National Parks (Africa's most extensive park system). It is an isolated peak of the Taita Hills, the northern most part of the Eastern Arc Mountains and rises over 3,000ft (1000m) from arid scrub to a mountain (cloud-mist) forest. Both the Taita Hills and Arc Mountains are world recognized biodiversity hot-spots, home to some of Kenya's last mountain cloud forests and many endemic, endangered flora and fauna such as the Taita white-eye bird (Taita Apalis/ Apalis fuscigularis) and the African violet. These forest are under pressure from rising human population in the region. Charcoal burning, logging poaching and agricultural expansion are the key threats. Unlike most of the Taita Hills, Mt. Kasigau has remained largely undisturbed due to its geographic isolation. Thus, the mountain is an excellent site for biological research. It also serves as a water catchment for villages surrounding the mountain; in turn these communities are very protective of the mountain. Mt. Kasigau is surrounded by five rural communities, Rukanga (the largest), Jora, Bungule, Kiteghe and Makwasinyi. The villages are mostly inhabited by the Taita, who traditionally lived in the hills for safety. Now the locals are looking to the mountain to provide income through community-based ecotourism and international volunteer opportunities.
