Kilifi: A walk through Marafa's Hell's Kitchen

Hell's Kitchen. [Jayne Rose Gacheri, Standard]

A legend has it that a long time ago, there lived a wealthy family in the present-day Marafa Village. The family-owned vast land and kept livestock. The wealth kept multiplying each year. However, the family had challenges with the scarcity of water. Faced with having to trek long distances to get the rare commodity, it opted to use milk for its domestic use.

Divine wrath

However, this act angered God so much, because many of this family's neighbours lacked food. He released an enormous storm that "swallowed" this family, thereby creating a deep chasm that engulfed the family and made the place so hot, making it completely inhospitable for man - thus the present-day, Marafa Hell's Kitchen.

Tuva explained that the gorges are also used as a prayer site where Kaya (shrine) elders give offerings to God. The locals believe that it is divine wrath.

Scientific reality nevertheless, has it that Hell's Kitchen was once a great sandstone ridge worn out by wind, rain, and floods into a series of jagged gorges. The feature, they say is geographical formations.

The Marafa depression is a series of sun-baked gorges and tall chimney-like structures with some rising to 30 metres high. The phenomenon structures have been perfectly formed by water and wind erosion over decades. There is evidence that this action is still happening.

"The red-like hills are the blood of the family punished by God for the waste done, the whites are the colour of milk wasted by the family, while the yellow ones are the colour of God's wrath towards the family," says the guide.

I have finally ticked off Hell's Kitchen" from my adventure bucket list.