Discover what’s cooking in Hell’s Kitchen

"You should learn to trust people, especially if they are leading you to a strange place you have never been to,” said Ann Cheptumo, a Malindi-based tour operator.

We had met Cheptumo early Thursday morning at Gede after a gruelling all-night long bus ride from Nairobi. Cheptumo was eager to meet a group of journalists from East Africa who were on a “fact finding-mission” on local tourism.

A rocky outcrop in Hell’s Kitchen in Marafa, Magarini Constituency, Malindi. (PHOTO: PETER MUIRURI/ STANDARD )

Though a stranger, her enthusiastic and welcoming nature calmed our tired nerves.
“Freshen up, take some breakfast, do some snorkelling and then we will take things up from there. The afternoon will be interesting, trust me,” she would tell us again and again.

I soon discovered I was not the only one who doesn’t like large bodies of water. Terror was written all over Edgar’s (from Uganda) face as the boat operator urged him to jump into the Indian Ocean and observe the beautiful coral at a close range.

He reluctantly agreed, albeit with the inner tube of a car round his belly. Allan, his fellow countryman, joined him. I offered to be the photographer to record any possible mishaps.
Cheptumo had promised an interesting afternoon. “How interesting could Malindi get,” I wondered.

Chapel

There is only water, water and more water, or so we thought. How wrong we were.
It took us 15 minutes to go round Malindi town. Some interesting features here are worth mentioning such as the famous Vasco Da Gama pillar erected in 1498.

It is also in Malindi where you will find a tiny, 500-year-old chapel, St. Francis Xavier, in whose compound are interred the remains of some former British administrators. The two are among the oldest European monuments in Africa.

We went past the Sabaki River bridge where apart from the mean-looking policeman manning the roadblock, there is little human activity. This is a stark contrast to the hustle and bustle that is Malindi. We stopped briefly to watch the country’s second largest river snake its way into the Indian Ocean, laden with red, volcanic soil gathered through its long journey from the Kenya Highlands.

The smooth tarmac took us to Mambrui, a small town off the Malindi-Garsen Road. The area is sparsely populated. Little seems to grow here. However, this may change with the proposed high-end development of Mambrui Golf Estate on 1,200 acres next to the fabled sand dunes.

A turn to the left on a dirt road brought us to Marafa, a rural outpost where peasants eke out a living herding livestock, tending to small businesses or simply watching life pass by oblivious of the vibrant tourism sector a few kilometers away.
Then an eerie but, spectacular sight opened up. People here call it Nyari, or a sacred depression.

It is a wonderful site despite the name a white visitor gave it years ago – Hell’s Kitchen. This is the surprise Cheptumo had in store for us.
We stood on the edge of one of the well-kept secrets of the Kenyan Coast.

Years of eroding the soft sandstone have created a depression interspersed with rocky outcrops – some 30 metres tall – that can test even the strong-willed. The natural process has left verdant white, pink, orange and crimson hues. Hell’s Kitchen is our small version of the Grand Canyon in the United States.
We met Justus Hamu Nathaniel, a local resident and tour guide. He has lived in Marafa all his life. As we struggled to get down to the valley floor, Nathaniel related a story that locals insist led to the formation of the depression.

The gods

“Many years ago, the people who lived here angered the gods by using milk to bathe since there was no water nearby. As a punishment, the gods killed all of them. The red colour symbolises the blood and the white colour represents the milk,” he said.

He must have told and retold this story before. Though we knew the scientific truth, we did not dispute him lest the same gods get angry at us.
Walking on the well-trodden paths presented other challenges. Loose rocks conspired to bog us down.

Landry Mugisha from Burundi had some stamina to climb up the smaller outcrops. Others joined him, risking life and limb.

For close to two hours, we explored every nook and cranny of Hell’s Kitchen, discovering some small caves just enough for one person to stand. Susan Ongalo from the Kenya Tourism Federation found them enticing as she played hide-and-seek in one after another.

The whole trek took almost two hours. We got back to the top in time to catch the last rays of the setting sun and a final group picture.
According to Nathaniel, the depression attracts close to 100 visitors per day and is a major contributor to the local economy. Residents of East Africa pay Sh200 for a tour while foreigners part with Sh300.
As we left Hell’s Kitchen, all we could do was thank Cheptumo for her “surprise” – a marvellous wonder of creation that many of us take for granted.