Why this ride
A 242 km round trip from Mariakani - roughly 5 h 09 in the saddle. The stops in between: Kaya Kambe, The Duruma Kayas, Kaya Ribe and Fort Jesus.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Kaya Giriama and Fort Jesus
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 242 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 09
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Kaya Giriama
Behind the beaches of Kenya's north coast, on the low red ridges inland from Kilifi, sit a string of forest patches that look like nothing much from the road. They are the kayas, once the fortified villages of the Mijikenda peoples, the nine related groups that include the Giriama, and today they are the sacred groves where elders still gather. The Kaya Giriama forest is one of them, and part of a UNESCO listing that covers several of these remnants of coastal forest. The village huts were long ago abandoned and the clearings overgrown, but the grove survives because it is protected by custom, so that cutting a tree or entering without permission is a serious matter.
Read the complete Kaya Giriama write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Kaya Giriama is where the day begins. Next is Kaya Kambe.
2. Kaya Kambe
Inland from the Kenyan coast, behind the sugar-white beaches and the hotel strip, lie forests where the Mijikenda people have kept their sacred places for centuries. Kaya Kambe is one of them, a fragment of the old coastal forest around a clearing where the elders once had their fortified village, the kaya, and where they still hold ceremonies and settle disputes. The Mijikenda, whose name means nine homesteads, are nine related peoples, among them the Giriama, Digo, Rabai and Kambe, who by tradition migrated south from a place called Shungwaya a few hundred years ago and made these hilltop forests their strongholds. A group of the kayas was inscribed as a World Heritage site in 2008.
Read the complete Kaya Kambe write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Kaya Kambe comes up about 25 km into the recorded legs. Next is The Duruma Kayas.
3. The Duruma Kayas
Inland from Mombasa, where the coastal plain begins to climb towards the dry bush of the interior, small islands of dense forest stand out from the farmland and scrub. These are kayas, the sacred forests of the Mijikenda peoples, and the Duruma kayas belong to one of the nine Mijikenda groups. Together with others along the coast they were inscribed in 2008 as the Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests.
Read the complete The Duruma Kayas write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 57 km into the recorded legs you reach The Duruma Kayas. Next is Kaya Ribe.
4. Kaya Ribe
Kaya Ribe is one of a string of sacred forests that sit on the low hills behind Kenya's coast, and the reason it exists says a lot about the people here. The Mijikenda, nine related communities, settled this coastal hinterland several centuries ago and built fortified villages, the kayas, in the forest. Today the village huts are mostly gone, but the forests remain, protected by councils of elders who treat them as the home of ancestors. A scatter of these kayas, Ribe among them, are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Read the complete Kaya Ribe write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Kaya Ribe, about halfway. Next is Fort Jesus.
5. Fort Jesus
Fort Jesus stands at the edge of Mombasa island looking out over the entrance to the old harbour, its thick coral-stone walls glowing ochre in the late afternoon. The Portuguese built it at the end of the sixteenth century, to a design by the Italian military architect Giovanni Battista Cairati, to secure their hold on the Swahili coast and the Indian Ocean trade. It changed hands repeatedly over the next two centuries, most famously after a siege by Omani Arab forces that lasted almost three years at the end of the 1690s, and later served as a prison. Since 2011 it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the museum inside tells the story of the coast and its many rulers.
Read the complete Fort Jesus write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fort Jesus sits at 99 km, about halfway. Next is back through Kaya Ribe.
6. back through Kaya Ribe
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kaya Ribe write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Kaya Ribe comes up about 159 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through The Duruma Kayas.
7. back through The Duruma Kayas
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Duruma Kayas write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 189 km into the recorded legs you reach back through The Duruma Kayas. Next is back through Kaya Kambe.
8. back through Kaya Kambe
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kaya Kambe write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Kaya Kambe, late in the day. Next is Kaya Giriama.
9. Kaya Giriama
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kaya Giriama write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 242 km.
Leg by leg
Kaya Giriama to Kaya Kambe
Kaya Giriama → Kaya Kambe is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kaya Kambe to The Duruma Kayas
Kaya Kambe → The Duruma Kayas is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Duruma Kayas to Kaya Ribe
The Duruma Kayas → Kaya Ribe is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kaya Ribe to Fort Jesus
Kaya Ribe → Fort Jesus is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort Jesus to back through Kaya Ribe
Fort Jesus → back through Kaya Ribe is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Kaya Ribe to back through The Duruma Kayas
back through Kaya Ribe → back through The Duruma Kayas is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The Duruma Kayas to back through Kaya Kambe
back through The Duruma Kayas → back through Kaya Kambe is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Kaya Kambe to Kaya Giriama
back through Kaya Kambe → Kaya Giriama is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.