One of the highlights of the western tourist circuit is this village which offers furnished cottages named after American states, writes HAROLD AYODO

A visit to the ancestral home of US President Barack Obama in Nyangoma village, Siaya County is a treat.

We touched down at Kisumu airport on Wednesday and proceeded to Nyangoma Kogelo sub location, South East Alego location by road.

Rapid infrastructural developments caught our attention as we took a turn off the Bondo Highway into Ndori-Ng’iya road. First, road contractors were engrossed in tarmacking the dusty Ndori-Ng’iya road that leads to the ‘First’ village.

Compared to most villages countrywide, Nyangoma has water and electricity, a source of pride to the locals.

The US President described the homestead as "the small village where my father was born’, a phrase that catapulted the village into global limelight.

Today, Nyangoma Kogelo is among must visit tourist attractions in the western tourist circuit.

Luo culture

The Government recently gazetted Kogelo village as a protected area under the National Museums and Heritage Act.

Majority of visitors to the area seek to see the grave where Barack Obama Snr was buried and have a chat with his surviving widow Mama Sarah Obama.

Others marvel at the two schools in the village — Senator Barack Obama Primary and Secondary School, formerly Nyangoma Primary and Kogelo Secondary — that sit on land donated by the father of the US President.