Sites, facts and folklore that define Tana River’s rich heritage

The Mau Mau Detention Camp at Hola

Of all established detention camps in Kenya’s pre-independence period, the story of Hola Detention Camp at the Kenyan coast is regarded as a game-changer.

In 1959, the camp attracted the attention of the British Parliament and the international media after 11 detainees were flogged to death, leading to an embarrassing inquiry. Over 70 other detainees sustained serious injuries.

Unlike other detention camps, the Hola camp was reserved for “hard-core” Mau Mau prisoners. The label was usually used on those who could not compromise on their determination to end the colonial rule in Kenya.

With a capacity of 506 by the end of 1958, Hola Detention Camp was more than just an incarceration centre. It exemplified the British resolve in quelling the Mau Mau, a symbol of government inflexibility in respecting the sanctity of the lives of Africans, especially the Agikuyu, Embu and Ameru.

The detention camp had an open prison quarter and a separately closed camp. The open camp accommodated detainees willing to cooperate with the authority, while the closed camp harboured the ‘hard-core’. “Co-operative” detainees, the British deemed, could be de-radicalised through a rehabilitation process at the camp.

Hardcore detainees, belligerent and disobedient to colonial orders, including resisting any form of rehabilitation, even under duress, remained isolated. Most of them lived in dark rooms, chained and subjected to torture and other forms of mistreatment.

According to the British authorities, many of these hardcore detainees ended up in Hola after committing horrible crimes, including murder. Strikingly, only a few of them had been tried in court and thus their supposed 'guilt' was often the outcome of an extrajudicial process.

At the camp, the guards tortured detainees at will and subjected already emaciated Africans to hard labour. The government, however, did not tire from installing measures that were more punitive. When the Commissioner of Prisons in Kenya, Mr Lewis Cowan, visited the camp in November 1958, he expressed dissatisfaction with the “level of laxity in discipline”. Upon his return to Nairobi, he discussed the situation with the defence and African affairs ministers.

In shorthand, the Cowan Plan prescribed forced labour to expedite establishment of the irrigation project. It also stamped systematic violation of detainee rights, a move that motivated guards working at the facility to heighten cruelty in handling detainees. The plan also limited the number of hard-core detainees to 66, but the camp administration breached the agreed number and increased it to 88 people.

To conceal this cruelty, the government report said the detainees had died after imbibing contaminated water from a cart that had supplied the commodity to the camp. This explanation, from the onset, reeked of cover-up.

This killing, widely referred to as Hola Massacre, led to an uproar and earned the British Government widespread negative publicity. After the massacre, the colonial administration closed all detention camps in Kenya and freed the prisoners. 

The Hola Detention Camp has since been turned into a school – Mau Mau Memorial Girl’s Secondary School. A tombstone on the mass grave where the 11 were buried has also been erected, with their names inscribed on it.

Delta Colonial Forts

The colonial administration built forts in Garsen town and Minjila. Garsen was a colonial military garrison, which the locals baptised Garsen. Minjila, on the other hand, was a jail – “Main Jail”.

The Garsen forts are located at Garsen Primary School junction and another one near ferry. The Minjila Fort was at the present KWS Minjila Camp. The forts are connected by underground tunnels. It is said King George of Britain hid in them during World War 1.

Kipini Old Prison

The Old Kipini Prison that was used in the late 1950s, is now Kipini Secondary School. The structures are still there, though unused because they are condemned. It was the last colonial administrative outpost.

Shaka Ruins

Shaka is located on the edge of Kipini beach, about 4.5km from Ungwana. The ruins consist of a mosque and numerous houses represented by mounds of rubble, tombs and wells. They are all surrounded by a wall.

The site is smaller, relative to the sprawling Ungwana and Mwana ruins, occupying about 10 to 12 acres. That is the only mosque that may have been a double mosque, in the area. The most notable architectural structures of Shaka are tombs. On the rising ground north of the site, within the town wall, are five tombs referred to as A, B, C, D, and E.

Mwana Ruins

Mwana is comprised of ruins of tombs. The walls and the superstructure of the tombs were well plastered and represented some of the finest architectural monuments in coastal Kenya. They were characterised by panelled walls decorated with various combinations of geometric elements.

Ungwana Ruins

According to researchers and historians, Ungwana area was also known as Hoja, which was initially settled by the Portuguese. It roughly covers 45 acres and its structures include a perimeter town wall, eight mosques, numerous houses, and several groups of large monumental tombs.

There are two Jamia – Old and New Jamia (Friday mosques) with plastered walls and domed Mihrab – and five smaller mosques, burial tombs and a palace centrally placed within the town.

Liyongo Fumo Grave

This gravesite is located at Tosi, a 10-minute drive down the murram road from Kipini town.

Born of noble blood, Liyongo Fumo was a celebrated poet of legendary strength. It didn’t go too well with his brother, Mringwari, who had been chosen to take over the throne upon their father’s death.

Mringwari imprisoned Liyongo. But Liyongo escaped and became ruler in another state, respected for his bravery and justice.

He was invincible. Legend has it that there was a secret to it, which only he and his mother, Mbowe, knew. Fumo Liyongo could only be killed by a copper nail or pin piercing his navel. In an act of betrayal, Liyongo’s son heard about this and told his uncle, for promised power. This saw Liyongo's untimely death.

Sacred sites

There are more than 10 sites that are considered to be sacred by the Pokomo community. They are Kimbu, Lalafitu, Mkomani/Maramba, Nkanu, Baguo, Bubwayo, Baratiro, Lemu, Nkozi, Mji Wa Walevu, and Laini Keya, among others.

They hold great cultural and spiritual significance to the Pokomo community as they are believed to be the places for connecting with the spirits of their ancestors.

Lake Shakababo and Lake Moa

There are ceramic remains along the Southside of the shores of Lake Shakababo. At Sango farm, Mtetemo, there are pots shreds, shells (both fresh and marine), bones of fish, sheep, etc, and round beads. The presence of cowries attests to a direct or indirect connection with foreigners. Similarly, on the shores of Lake Moa, are broken pots and ceramic spoons.

Ngao Methodist Church

This famous and historical Methodist Church was built around 1904-1906. It was the first church in Tana River by Neukirchen Missionary.

Kipini DC’s office

In October 1899, British forces arrived at Kipini to control Tana River District. They built their office at Kipini. The structure exists to date, but in a dilapidated state.

The district commissioner had his road and was carried on a palanquin on the shoulders of carriers. He instructed every village to find the strongest, energetic and most handsome men to do the job. Hence the road to the DC’s office was nicknamed in Kipokomo, “mzigo wa malindi”.

Wanawali Saba

“Wanawali saba” loosely translates to seven virgins. It is said that once upon a time, seven young maidens were attacked by villains. The girls prayed to God to save their chastity and he did; by opening up the land to swallow them up. Parts of the clothes they were wearing are still visible to this day.

Kau village

Kau used to be the home of Nabahan Sultanate during the first half of the 19th century. Archaeological artefacts and an Islamic cemetery with tombs of saints are found here. Shreds of pots from all over the world, Chinese ceramics (blue and white, stoneware), European ware (flora decoration lying on a white slip), and Islamic ware (yellow slip), are also found in the area.

Chamwanamuma village

It is said that natives of Chamwanamuma village frequently committed adultery, fornication, and all kinds of sins.

Children who were born with disabilities were buried alive. The community considered them a curse and therefore eliminated them.

According to folklore, God sent a cat to communicate with the residents of Chamwanamuma village, so that they repent. The cat went there and shouted: “Salaaala Muhammad, Chamwanamuma kachi mwa mambo”. This loosely translates to: “Praise prophet Muhammad, Chamwanamuma dwellers, you have done the utmost evil of vices”.

No sooner had the cat finished the statement than a brook formed where it stood. Water flowed from River Tana into the village. Villagers had to vacate.  The brook is still there.

Tana Delta Cultural Centre

When going to Garsen town, just past junction, there’s a county-owned cultural centre. Unfortunately, there’s nothing inside the buildings but squirrels playing about.

Adamson’s Monument

On August 20, 1989, at high noon, gunshots rang out at the Kampi ya Simba, also known as Lion Camp, at the Kora National Park. George Adamson, fondly nicknamed Bwana Game after his 1968 biography, died in a hail of bullets fired by “Shifta” bandits. Also killed were his two camp assistants.

Adamson had died trying to save the life of a German visitor to Kora National Park. On that day, Kenya and the world lost a hero and an iconic reformist, who had dedicated his life to preserving the harsh natural habitat for wildlife, especially lions.

Adamson had spent most of his productive years restoring the 1700 square-kilometre Kora National Park, from an untamed arid-land to a wildlife prolific park. The simple Adamson’s Monument earmarks the final resting place for one of Kenya’s most-celebrated conservationists.

Tana primates

Tana River National Primate Reserve, which contains the last remaining contiguous area of indigenous riverine forest along the Tana River, is the home of two endangered primate species – the Tana River Red Colobus and the Tana River Crested Mangabey monkeys.

Bura Church Mission

Established by the Holy Ghost fathers in 1892, Bura Mission Church became the first inland Catholic Mission in Kenya. It was started in 1892 by Monsignor De Courmont, who was an Apostolic Vicar, and Father Jean Flick of Holy Ghost Fathers.

Monsignor De Courmont had decided to move up and build a Church in Bura, away from the busy Mombasa, and set up a mission post in the undeveloped and remote hinterland.

They travelled for 11 days and nights to Bura with a caravan made up of one Muslim cleric, six guards, and 16 porters who carried a 40kg load each.

On September 30, 1896, Bura Mission Church was unveiled and the first mass was celebrated on the same day. More than 120 years later, this stands proudly as the oldest Catholic Mission Church in Kenya.

Mzee Galana Menza: Composer of the Kenya national anthem

Mzee Meza Galana, the man behind the Kenya national anthem, passed on at the age of 95 after being hospitalised at Hola district hospital. 

Mzee Galana, who had lived in poverty and solitude, made his contribution to the nation by composing Kenya’s National Anthem. The once Mathematics, Kiswahili and Music teacher was 44 when he composed the tune that would become synonymous with the nation.

Kipini

Kipini was once an Arab stronghold where the sultan diverted the delta’s water to his vast plantations of spices and rice that could have rivalled Seyyid Said’s Spice Island in Zanzibar.

Kipini Graves

Near the District Commissioner’s (DC) house are three graves of colonialists: One of Mr Clifford Pitt; the other of Mr Kenneth and that of Mrs Martha Duff, Kenneth’s mother.

Mrs Duff, a widow, had arrived to visit her only son, only to be told that he had died several weeks earlier. She suffered a heart attack and died in 1923.

Kipini, District Commissioner House

The house is said to be haunted by two ghosts – of Clifford Pitt and Martha Duff.