The devil’s kitchens is a wonderful place as desolate and wild, which I discovered during an excursion to Kenya last November. So by chance, flipping through a brochure of excursions left on a table by a guide of the village, we found the description of this place, Marafa, also called Hell’s Kitchen. An excursion that is usually not advertised a lot, from which tourists tend to escape because of the lack of water and the sun that beats strongly.
I try to describe the experience as I have lived it and to transmit at least a little of the feelings felt. The devil’s kitchen tour starts by going up the rickety minibus which is swallowed by Malindi by fiery red earth tongues, the streets all holes that do not leave you the time to take a picture without your body jumping right and left. Since the Kenya that pleases me is uncomfortable, I can only be happy in spite of some photo moved.
We arrive after about an hour of heavy taxes and rumors of rumors after skirting fields of lush green and blurry figures of children walking barefoot, hot and all lined up one after the other after a day of school.
The devil’s kitchens look like a kind of Grand Canyon and no matter how terrible it can be to think of them under the scorching sun of the day, at sunset they are a spectacle of nature.
After looking at the view from the top of this large crater, subject to the erosion of wind and rain, we prepare to descend into their hearts together with the guide. The legend of Hell’s Kitchen tells of a rich family that despite the poverty of the people, bathed in the milk produced by their livestock. The wrath of God plunged the land of the family estate, the red and white walls of Marafa still bear the marks of milk and their blood. The sunset seen from the kitchen of the devil is something indescribable and absolutely worth trying if you decide to spend a holiday near Watamu and Malindi.
The entrance to Marafa is managed by a local Cooperative, the ticket that you pay for entry contributes to the livelihood of the village, the only one in the vicinity of this amazing land of fire.
Kenyan Tribes 