Why this ride
From Malindi it runs 294 km to Malindi; allow about 7 h 04 of riding. On the way it passes Kaya Kauma, Kaya Jibana, Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests and Fort Jesus. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The Historic Town and Archaeological Site and Fort Jesus
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 294 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 7 h 04
- 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. The Historic Town and Archaeological Site
Gedi does not announce itself. You drive along the Kenyan coast through palms, cashew trees and roadside stalls selling mangoes, turn in under the shade of the Arabuko-Sokoke forest, and suddenly there are coral-stone walls in the trees, a mosque with an arched doorway, a palace courtyard, houses with wells and sleeping niches, all roofed with branches and leaves instead of stone. This was a Swahili town, founded around the twelfth century and flourishing in the fifteenth, when it traded with the Indian Ocean world, with Chinese porcelain and Venetian glass turning up in the digging. By the early seventeenth century the people had gone. Nobody knows exactly why, and the theories, a shift of the coast, raids, or the failure of the water, have never been settled.
Read the complete The Historic Town and Archaeological Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Historic Town and Archaeological Site is where the day begins. Next is Kaya Kauma.
2. Kaya Kauma
The kayas are patches of forest scattered along the coast of Kenya, each one once the fortified village of a Mijikenda community, hidden deep in the trees for protection. The Mijikenda, nine related peoples of the coastal hinterland, later moved out of the forests, but the kayas remained sacred places, where elders held ceremonies, buried their leaders and made decisions, and where cutting trees or harming the forest was forbidden. That protection has preserved precious remnants of coastal forest, rich in rare plants and animals. In 2008, a group of them, including Kaya Kauma near Kilifi, was listed by UNESCO as the Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests.
Read the complete Kaya Kauma write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Kaya Kauma comes up about 62 km into the recorded legs. Next is Kaya Jibana.
3. Kaya Jibana
A kaya is a sacred forest, and for the Mijikenda peoples of the Kenyan coast it was once much more: a fortified hilltop village hidden in the trees, a place of ancestral graves, ceremonies and council. Kaya Jibana, belonging to the Jibana community, sits in the hills inland from the coast between Mombasa and Kilifi, and it is one of a group of kaya forests listed by UNESCO in 2008. People no longer live inside, but elders still guard it, and entry is regulated by customs that visitors should respect: guides, permission, and no cutting or taking.
Read the complete Kaya Jibana write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 90 km into the recorded legs you reach Kaya Jibana. Next is Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests.
4. Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests
Along the Kenyan coast, behind the resort hotels and the palm-lined beaches, there are scraps of forest that matter more to local people than almost any building. These are the kaya, the sacred forests of the Mijikenda, a group of nine related peoples including the Giriama and Digo, who say their ancestors settled in fortified villages hidden in the woods. Each kaya was a clearing in the trees, with a ring of defence and a set of elders who held the village's laws and ceremonies, and when the villages were abandoned, the forests were kept as places of prayer and burial.
Read the complete Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests, 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 138 km, about halfway. Next is back through Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests.
6. back through Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests comes up about 188 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Kaya Jibana.
7. back through Kaya Jibana
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kaya Jibana write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 205 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Kaya Jibana. Next is back through Kaya Kauma.
8. back through Kaya Kauma
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kaya Kauma write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Kaya Kauma, late in the day. Next is The Historic Town and Archaeological Site.
9. The Historic Town and Archaeological Site
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Historic Town and Archaeological Site 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 294 km.
Leg by leg
The Historic Town and Archaeological Site to Kaya Kauma
The Historic Town and Archaeological Site → Kaya Kauma is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kaya Kauma to Kaya Jibana
Kaya Kauma → Kaya Jibana is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kaya Jibana to Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests
Kaya Jibana → Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests to Fort Jesus
Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests → Fort Jesus is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort Jesus to back through Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests
Fort Jesus → back through Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests to back through Kaya Jibana
back through Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests → back through Kaya Jibana is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Kaya Jibana to back through Kaya Kauma
back through Kaya Jibana → back through Kaya Kauma is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Kaya Kauma to The Historic Town and Archaeological Site
back through Kaya Kauma → The Historic Town and Archaeological Site is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.