Wildlife. Updated November 2026. 5 min read.
Drive slowly along Diani Beach Road and look up. Every so often a rope ladder or a narrow bridge spans the road between the trees, and if you wait you may see a black-and-white colobus cross it, long white tail streaming behind, an infant clinging underneath. The bridges, called colobridges, were built because cars and power lines were killing the monkeys. They are the most visible sign of a small conservation success on the south coast.
Kenya has two black-and-white colobus monkeys, mbega in Kiswahili. On the coast, the Angolan black-and-white colobus lives in the forest behind Diani beach and in the Shimba Hills. Inland, the guereza lives in the forests of Mount Kenya, the Aberdares and Kakamega, and in the yellow fever trees around Lake Naivasha. You can see them in any month, and mornings, when they sun themselves on the top branches, are best. A third kind, the Tana River red colobus, lives only on the lower Tana. This page is about the animal itself; for a visit to the Diani rescue centre, see our Colobus Conservation page, and for the rest of Kenya's monkeys, our primates overview.
Two black-and-white colobus
| Angolan colobus | Guereza | |
|---|---|---|
| Where in Kenya | Diani and the south coast forests, Shimba Hills | Mount Kenya, the Aberdares, Kakamega, Lake Naivasha, Ol Donyo Sabuk |
| Look | Black, with long white shoulder plumes and a white fringe around the face | Black, with a long white cape draped along each side and a big white tail tuft |
| Habitat | Coastal forest, including the gardens of beach hotels | Highland and riverside forest, up into the bamboo zone |
| IUCN status | Vulnerable | Least Concern |
A life on leaves
Colobus monkeys eat mostly leaves, with some fruit, seeds and flowers, and they can digest mature leaves that other monkeys cannot. Like cows, they have a large, chambered stomach in which bacteria ferment the leaves, breaking down tough plant fiber and some plant toxins. Leaves give little energy, so colobus spend much of the day resting and digesting high in the canopy, which makes them easier to watch than busier monkeys. They rarely come to the ground and almost never raid tables, unlike the Sykes' monkeys and vervets that share the same gardens.
Family life
Colobus live in small troops, usually one adult male with several females and their young. Infants are born pure white and turn black and white over their first few months, and the females of a troop often pass a newborn among themselves. Males defend the troop's patch of forest with a deep, rolling roar at dawn that carries through the trees. Their leaps between branches, with the cape and tail spread wide, are one of the great sights of an African forest.
Three things most people do not know
First, colobus have no thumbs, or only a tiny stump, which gives them their name, from a Greek word meaning docked or cut short. Their fingers work as a hook for swinging through branches. Second, colobus fur was once a big trade: capes and trimmings were fashionable in Europe in the nineteenth century, and huge numbers of skins left Africa. Third, the Diani colobus live in one of the most built-up wildlife habitats in Kenya, so a hotel garden can be as good a place to see them as a forest.
The Diani colobus and the rope bridges
The Diani forest is a strip of coastal forest squeezed between the beach and the main road, and hotels, houses and traffic have cut it into pieces. Colobus crossing the road were hit by cars, and monkeys climbing power poles were electrocuted. Colobus Conservation, a nonprofit based in Diani since the late 1990s, answered with rope and canopy bridges over the road, insulated power lines, speed bumps, and the rescue and rehabilitation of injured monkeys. Our Colobus Conservation page covers the visit, the guided walk and the volunteer program. The short version here is that the bridges work, and you can watch colobus using them.
Where to see colobus
- Diani: hotel gardens and the forest along Diani Beach Road, and the Colobus Conservation center for a guided walk.
- Shimba Hills National Reserve: Angolan colobus in the forest, on a morning game drive from Diani.
- Lake Naivasha: guereza in the yellow fever trees along the shore, including the gardens of Elsamere, Joy Adamson's former home.
- Mount Kenya and the Aberdares: guereza in the forest around the lodges and on guided forest walks.
- Kakamega Forest: guereza alongside red-tailed and blue monkeys, with local guides.
- Ol Donyo Sabuk, near Thika: guereza in the mountain forest on a day trip from Nairobi.
Watching and photographing colobus well
- Look up, not around: colobus sit high in the canopy, often in the sun on the top branches in the morning.
- Listen for the males' roar at dawn, and for the crash of a long leap.
- Never feed them. Their stomachs are built for leaves, and bread, buffet fruit and sugar can make them ill and teach them to approach people.
- In Diani, drive slowly and respect the speed bumps; monkeys cross at ground level as well as on the bridges.
- For photos, expose for the white fur rather than the black, or the cape will burn out, and use a long lens with a high ISO under the canopy.
Conservation status
The guereza is widespread and listed as Least Concern at the time of writing. The Angolan colobus is listed as Vulnerable, and on the Kenyan coast its forest keeps shrinking. The Tana River red colobus, Kenya's rarest monkey, is Endangered and lives only in a few patches of riverside forest; our Tana River Primate Reserve page explains why. The best help a visitor can give is to stay at hotels that keep their forest, drive slowly and support the work of Colobus Conservation.
Trips where you will see colobus
Any Diani beach stay can include colobus, and our coast routes pair it with Shimba Hills and a dhow day at Kisite. Inland, a night at Naivasha or in the Aberdares adds the guereza to a Mara safari.
