Why this ride
A 118 km round trip from Mariakani - roughly 2 h 10 in the saddle. On the way it passes Kaya Giriama, The Duruma Kayas and back through Kaya Giriama. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Kaya Kambe and The Duruma Kayas
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 118 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 10
- 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 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 is where the day begins. Next is Kaya Giriama.
2. 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 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 61 km into the recorded legs you reach The Duruma Kayas. Next is back through Kaya Giriama.
4. back through 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
back through Kaya Giriama, late in the day. Next is Kaya Kambe.
5. 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 at Kaya Kambe. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Kaya Kambe to Kaya Giriama
Kaya Kambe → Kaya Giriama is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kaya Giriama to The Duruma Kayas
Kaya Giriama → The Duruma Kayas is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Duruma Kayas to back through Kaya Giriama
The Duruma Kayas → back through Kaya Giriama is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Kaya Giriama to Kaya Kambe
back through Kaya Giriama → Kaya Kambe is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Kaya Giriama and The Duruma Kayas · 110 km
- Kaya Kauma and Kaya Kinondo · 243 km
- Kaya Kauma and Fort Jesus · 170 km