Near the entrance to Gedi ruins lies the most important butterfly farm in Kenya, named Kipepeo which means "butterfly" in Swahili. This facility deserves a place of honour among the best practices of sustainable development. Before it started, there was a firm opposition among the locals to the conservation of a forest that reverted no profits to them and hindered the economic development of the region. Per capita income of the farmers was very low and the forest was seriously threatened. It was in 1993 when the East Africa Natural History Society and the National Museums of Kenya joined to launch the Kipepeo project, designed to save the forest, help to the conservation of its rare butterfly species and at the same time promote the rise of the local economy.

The idea was simple and smart. A total of 150 local farmers were trained to rear butterfly larvae feeding them with the native trees' leaves. Kipepeo raises the eggs and gives out the newly hatched larvae to the farmers, who rear the caterpillars and sell back the pupae to Kipepeo. The farm breeds the adult butterflies for export to Europe and America, either as preserved specimens for museum collections or as living insects for other farms or exhibits. The farm's experts have checked the lack of negative impact of this activity on the wild butterflies' populations. Today the farmers have a permanent source of income and support the forest's conservation.

The farm is open daily from 8 AM to 5 PM.

Hell's Kitchen:

Hell's kitchen was originally a sandstone-rich escarpment, which upon erosion by rains, winds and torrents, was transformed into a canyon with magnificent gorges and chimneys, some of them rising up to 30 m high. Its beautiful colours are best appreciated at sunset.

To reach Hell's Kitchen, the easiest route is to take the B8 northward from Malindi. Soon after crossing the Galana/Sabaki river, the road heads into the town of Mambrui, from which there is a detour to Marafa. At the end of Marafa, turn right and 500 m ahead you will arrive at Hell's Kitchen, called by the natives Nyari, "the place broken by itself".

Gedi:

Along the coastal B8 road, 15 km south of Malindi, lies one of those places surrounded by mystery and unanswered questions. Indeed, the Swahili town of Gedi (or Gede) is an enigma, since in spite of the clear preponderance it acquired during its five centuries of existence, there are no written references about it.

The city was founded in the 12th century by the Swahili Arabs, who populated the coast and had already founded towns like Pate, Lamu and Malindi. The remains allow to conclude that the city, away from the sea and secluded in the coastal forest, was thriving, rich and as big as Mombasa, inhabited by some 2,500 people. However, not a single line of the Arab or Swahili chronicles mentions this place. Further, Portugal dominated the coast from 1498 to 1698, and along this period all the ocean cities fell to some extent under the Portuguese grip, being Malindi, only 15 km away from Gedi, the flagship of Portugal's allies. Gedi's splendour peaked in the 15th century, when Portugal started conquering the coast, but incredibly enough the records of a 200-year seizure make no mention of this place, that remained overlooked by the European's influence.

The town's location is also quite puzzling. The remains uncovered clearly pinpoint that Gedi bred solid commercial relationships with the Far East, Europe and Persia; though, the city lacked a port and its laying in the midst of a lush forest away from the shoreline seems everything but convenient. The legend swell with local traditions talking about ghosts and unexplained phenomena. Even James Kirkman, the archeologist who unearthed the ruins, felt strongly uncomfortable when working at the site, as if a hidden presence was watching his moves.

The place remained ignored for the western world until 1884, when the ruins were visited by the British Comissionate in Zanzibar, sir John Kirk. The city would not be gazetted as a Historic Monument until 1927. Two years later it achieved the status of protected monument and in 1939 the Public Works Department began the restoration of the walls. Gedi was gazetted as a National Park in 1948 and it was then that the excavation works were assigned to James Kirkman, who would assume the role until 1958. Afterwards, the ruins came under the shelter of the National Museums of Kenya.

Today, Gedi is the most important archeological site in the coast and the only place to observe untouched swahili architecture. The preserved remains are dipped in a 45 acre coastal forest, formerly occupied by humble dwellings which disappeared and were colonized by vegetation. This primeval forest is a sacred place for the locals and also the habitat for numerous wildlife species, some of them endangered, like the golden-rumped elephant shrew, which usually associates with the red-capped robin chat. The bird watches out for danger and receives in compensation the insects removed by the shrew. Other species present are the bushbabies, duikers and monkeys. The place even hosts its own animal myth, probably a cousin of the bigfoot or the yeti: a presumed creature resembling an enormous sheep. But what you should beware of is much tinier, the siafu ants (siafu means "ants" in swahili), destructive insects that come out after the rains. It is told that settlers would leave a parrot inside a cage to find the next day just a skeleton still standing on the perch. Some cobras are also present, but a meeting is quite unlikely.

The remains are open daily from 7 AM to 6 PM and there is a guiding service available. For a self-guided visit, the booklet by James Kirkman on sale at the entrance is a great help.

The site comprises the great mosque, the palace, fourteen dwellings and a set of tombs, in addition to the annexed museum. Most of the ruins correspond to 15th and 16th centuries. During the last period, a second wall was erected surrounding only the wealthiest area, consisting of the palace and the stone city.

Great Mosque (Jumaa):

Of the seven mosques detected at the site, this one is the biggest and probably served as the congregational mosque or Friday mosque. Dated back to the 15th century and re-built in the 16th, this large building still preserves the mihrab, the place pointing to Mecca. The minbar, the pulpit from which the muezzin read the Koran verses, was made up of three stone steps, instead of the wooden structure which was usual in other coastal mosques. The Arab motifs are complemented with some other typically African, such as the carved spearhead, showing the distinctness of the Swahili culture. The yard at the entrance had a water reservoir for ablutions, connected with a well outside the mosque.

Palace:

The palace had a double purpose as the governor's or sultan's residence and the governmental seat. The entrance yard gives way to a hall in which the audiences took place. The building comprised several small rooms and the ruler's habitations equipped with high-end washrooms and toilets.

Dwellings:

The wealthy residential area comprised a set of stone dwellings with painted walls and sophisticated toilet rooms. Most of the objects shown at the museum have been found in these houses, which have taken their names from the objects unearthed: the ivory box house, the dhow house -with a dhow painted on the wall-, the Venetian pearl house, etc. The oldest one is the cauri house, from the 14th century. Cauris are a kind of shells which were used as coins. Conversely to residences at Mombasa or Lamu, dwellings at Gedi have always a single floor. All of them show some common elements, like a stone bench where the landlord welcomed his guests. The walls were frequently adorned with tapestries or kilims and clay lamps.

Tombs:

Although alien to the Arab culture, a characteristic of the ancient East Africa is that tombs of outstanding figures always bear a pillar on top. This type of funerary buildings, perhaps imported from the hamites, may well obbey to phallic symbology. This practice was later abandoned, possibly upon invasion by the Omanis who extended the orthodox Arabic Islam, erasing many of the cultural Swahili roots. The so-called dated tomb is named after an engraved inscription that reveals the date at which it was erected: 1399, or 802 according to the muslim calendar. Nearby, the tomb of the flutted pillar is very well preserved.

Museum:

The museum displays information on the site and shows some of the objects found, such as chinese Ming porcelains, shell and glass beads, gold and silver jewellery and coins, enameled Persian glass and Venetian crystal, all of them evidencing that the Gedi traders maintained commercial relationships with the whole known world. The collection also includes some pottery used for cooking and food storage.

More info: Gedi official website.