Kaya Kinondo Sacred Forest
One of the last Mijikenda sacred groves, protected by the elders for centuries.
Duration
1 hr 30 min – 2 hrs 30 min
Best time
In the morning
Open
Every day
Entry price
To confirm
The kayas are sacred groves of the Mijikenda, the nine peoples of the Kenyan coast. Each originally sheltered a fortified village, abandoned in the nineteenth century, and the grove remained sacred, protected by a council of elders.
Kaya Kinondo is the only one open to visitors, and the rules there are the elders', not a park's: you wear a kaniki, a black cloth, you take no photographs without permission, and you remove nothing. Those prohibitions have preserved a coastal forest that deforestation has erased everywhere else — a case where religious protection outperformed the legal kind.
Getting there
At Kinondo village, ten kilometres south of Diani. A guide from the council of elders is compulsory.
What the price covers
paid entry and a village guide are compulsory, rates to be confirmed
What to bring
- Covering clothes
Rules on site
The rules are religious, not touristic: wear the kaniki given at the entrance, take no photographs without permission, and pick up nothing, not even a leaf. The council's guide is compulsory and the entry fee funds the village.
