Coast
Taita-Taveta
Framed by the Taita Hills and the vast Tsavo national parks, Taita-Taveta is the homeland of the Taita and Taveta peoples, known for gemstone mining, sisal estates and the sacred skull caves of the hills.
What you'll hear
The people
Dawida (Taita)
The Dawida are the largest ethnic community in Taita-Taveta County, predominantly inhabiting the high elevated Taita Hills. Historically, they adapted to mountain life by developing terraced farming, cattle keeping, and complex irrigation networks along steep slopes. They possess a rich cultural heritage centered on strong ancestral veneration, distinct clan structures, and deep spiritual ties to mountain forests. Today, they are key agricultural producers of horticulture, coffee, and food crops in the county.
Saghala
The Saghala are a distinct subgroup of the Taita community settled around the Sagalla Hills near Voi town. They speak Kisaghala, a language closely related to Kidawida but featuring unique phonetic and vocabulary differences. Historically, their strategic position overlooking the lowland caravan routes made them key trade intermediaries between coastal merchants and inland communities. They maintain unique clan traditions, basketry crafts, and local agricultural practices tailored to the drier slopes of the Sagalla range.
Taveta (Kituweta)
The Taveta people inhabit the fertile border lowlands of Taveta Sub-County near Mount Kilimanjaro and Lake Jipe. Culturally and linguistically related to both coastal Swahili and neighboring Tanzanian communities like the Chaga and Pare, they historically controlled vital trade routes. They are renowned for their highly efficient, canal-based irrigation systems that draw water from Kilimanjaro springs to grow bananas, sugarcane, and vegetables. Their society features unique age-grade systems and vibrant musical traditions influenced by border commerce.
Kasigau
The Kasigau community is a distinct sub-group of the Taita residing around the isolated, majestic granite monolith of Mount Kasigau. Due to their geographical isolation in the south-eastern sector of the county, they developed unique cultural traditions and a distinct dialect of Kidawida. In 1915, during World War I, the entire Kasigau population was forcibly relocated to Malindi by British forces who suspected them of aiding German forces. They later returned to rebuild their ancestral homeland and are now nationally recognized for high-quality woven sisal basketry.
Wata (Sanye)
The Wata are an indigenous hunter-gatherer community who historically inhabited the dense thorn scrub and riverine forests of the Tsavo plains. Expert trackers and herbalists, they traditionally relied on hunting wild game with bows and poisoned arrows and collecting wild honey. With the establishment of Tsavo National Park and wildlife conservation laws in the mid-20th century, their traditional foraging lifestyle was largely restricted. Today, small populations of Wata live on the fringes of Tsavo, preserving deep ecological knowledge despite socio-economic marginalization.
Food & Cuisine
Kikushe
Kikushe is a traditional Taita vegetable dish prepared from the young, tender leaves of the pumpkin plant or wild indigenous greens. The leaves are carefully stripped of tough outer fibers, chopped finely, and boiled before being sauteed with onions, tomatoes, and a splash of milk or cream. Traditionally, no heavy commercial oils were used; instead, milk or clarified butter provided rich moisture and balanced the slight bitterness of the greens. It is almost always served as a side dish alongside Kimanga or stiff corn porridge during daily family meals. Kikushe is prized by local elders for its high mineral content and deep connection to traditional hillside foraging.
Taveta Wali wa Nazi na Samaki
This dish is a staple of the Taveta sub-county, reflecting the unique blend of Swahili and inland agricultural culinary traditions. It consists of aromatic long-grain rice simmered in fresh coconut milk, served alongside spiced lake fish caught from Lake Chala or Lake Jipe. The fish is typically seasoned with garlic, ginger, and coastal spices, then pan-fried or simmered in a rich tomato and onion gravy. It is commonly prepared for weekend family feasts, festive celebrations, and wedding banquets throughout Taveta town. The dish highlights Taveta's position as a vibrant trade crossroad between the Kenyan coast and northern Tanzania.
Kimanga
Kimanga is the signature traditional dish of the Taita people, prepared by mashing boiled starchy roots or fruit with cooked legumes. The most classic version combines boiled green bananas or cassava with pigeon peas, cowpeas, or kidney beans. The mixture is pounded together using a wooden mortar or large spoon until it forms a dense, hearty staple, often seasoned simply with salt and local ghee. It is traditionally served hot alongside indigenous leafy vegetables like kikushe or cooked meat stews during family dinners. Because of its filling nature, Kimanga has historically been eaten before long workdays in the hillside farms or during special communal gatherings.
Kishumba
Kishumba is a revered Taita specialty made specifically from unripe green bananas and boiled beans or cowpeas. The green bananas are peeled and cooked together with the legumes until soft enough to be mashed into a uniform, thick consistency. Traditionally, local elders preferred Kishumba prepared with fresh cowpea leaves added during the mashing process to enhance its nutritional value and flavor. It is routinely served during traditional dowry negotiations and family reunions as a sign of warm hospitality. The dish represents the agricultural bounty of the fertile Taita Hills and remains a beloved comforting meal across households.
Music & Sound
Kishawi
Kishawi is a traditional social performance performed primarily by senior men and women in the Taita highlands. The style relies heavily on call-and-response vocal harmonies, accompanied by double-membrane drums and metal rattles strapped to the performers' ankles. The songs of Kishawi serve as a living historical record, recounting village history, ancestral lineages, moral lessons, and humorous local gossip. It is traditionally performed during evening social gatherings, harvest celebrations, and traditional beer-drinking ceremonies known as Mbangara. What makes Kishawi distinct is its relaxed pace and emphasis on witty poetic lyricism rather than energetic acrobatics.
Mwazindika
Mwazindika is the most iconic traditional dance and spiritual performance of the Dawida people in Taita-Taveta. Rooted in ancient ancestor veneration and spiritual healing, it was historically performed by specialized shamans to cure ailments, drive away evil spirits, and bring rains. The rhythm is driven by three distinct wooden drums called Mshondo, together with brass leg bells and animal-horn trumpets known as Nzumari. Dancers execute intense foot-stamping and rhythmic torso vibrations, entering trance-like states as the tempo accelerates. Today, while it retains its spiritual gravity, Mwazindika is also performed during major national celebrations, cultural festivals, and community welcomes.
Kinyasa
Kinyasa is a distinct musical tradition unique to the Taveta community residing near the Tanzanian border. The genre emerged from historical interactions between local Taveta people, freed slaves, and migrant laborers along the historical caravan trade routes. It features a unique instrumentation that blends traditional percussion with accordions, brass trumpets, and whistle cues. The performance involves orderly brass-band-style processions accompanied by joyous group dancing and choral singing. Kinyasa is predominantly performed during major community celebrations, weddings, and Christmas holidays in Taveta.
Gonda
Gonda is a lively and expressive dance style found in the lowlands of Taita-Taveta, influenced by coastal Swahili and Mijikenda musical patterns. The performance features synchronized waist-swivelling movements, rapid footwork, and polyrhythmic drumming using tuned wooden drums. Dancers wear brightly colored traditional wraps and leg rattles that chime in sync with every step and hip movement. Gonda is performed during celebratory occasions such as weddings, political rallies, and circumcision graduation ceremonies. Its high energy and interactive nature invite spectators to join in the dancing, making it a favorite for broad public festivities.
Traditions & Customs
Rainmaking Ceremonies at Vuria Peak
When severe droughts threatened crops and livestock, Taita elders conducted sacred rainmaking ceremonies at high mountain peaks, particularly Mount Vuria. Led by designated rainmakers and spiritual elders, the community climbed the summit carrying sacrificial animals such as black sheep or goats. At sacred altars situated under ancient trees, prayers were offered to the supreme deity alongside libations of traditional beer and milk. The blood of the sacrifice was poured onto the earth, after which the elders remained in quiet retreat until dark cloud formations began to gather over the peaks. These rituals reinforced the community's spiritual connection to the high-elevation forest ecosystems that feed the region's streams.
Kutasa Kirumbu (Ancestral Skull Preservation)
Kutasa Kirumbu is an ancient mortuary custom historically practiced by the Dawida people to maintain communion with deceased ancestors. One to two years after an elder's initial burial, relatives exhumed the skull, cleaned it meticulously, and anointed it with castor oil and animal fat. The skull was then carried in a solemn procession to a sacred mountain cave shelter where ancestral skulls rested. Elders performed prayers and libations of traditional beer at the cave during times of famine, disease, or personal hardship to seek guidance and blessing. Although Christianity reduced its practice, the custom remains a foundational element of historical Taita spiritual identity.
Njama Elder Dispute Resolution
Njama is the traditional council of elders responsible for administering justice, resolving land disputes, and maintaining peace across Taita villages. When a conflict over land boundaries, livestock theft, or family inheritance arose, the affected parties submitted their grievances to the Njama. The elders convened under a sacred shade tree to hear witnesses, examine traditional boundary markers, and debate customary law. Sanctions typically involved fines payable in goats, traditional beer, or local produce to appease aggrieved parties and restore harmony. The Njama remains an influential informal conflict resolution mechanism operating alongside modern Kenyan courts in rural Taita-Taveta.
Mwali Girl Initiation
Mwali is a traditional rite of passage ceremony designed to prepare adolescent Taita girls for adulthood, marriage, and family life. During initiation, young girls were secluded in private homestead quarters under the care of senior female mentors known as kungwi. The initiates received rigorous instruction in household management, child rearing, personal hygiene, traditional etiquette, and marital duties. The seclusion concluded with a joyful public ceremony where the mwali emerged dressed in fine traditional attire, brass ornaments, and beadwork to perform celebratory dances. This tradition fostered strong cross-generational mentorship and reinforced social norms within the community.
Heritage Sites
Taita Skull Caves
The Taita Skull Caves, located in sites such as Ngangao, Sagalla, and Bura, are sacred rocks and natural shelters where ancestral human skulls were preserved. Under ancient Taita customs, after a prominent person died and was buried for a period of time, their skull was exhumed and cleaned before being placed in these elevated mountain caves. The caves served as spiritual shrines where family members would offer sacrifices of beer and food to communicate with ancestor spirits. Visitors to the accessible caves today can view these neatly stacked human skulls resting on rock ledges within the quiet forest environment. The site offers a profound glimpse into pre-colonial Taita metaphysics and deeply reverent mortuary practices.
Grogan Castle
Grogan Castle is a dramatic, white-walled architectural masterpiece built in the 1930s by the eccentric British settler Colonel Ewart Grogan. Perched on top of a prominent hill in Taveta, the castle features a blend of Moorish, Roman, and British colonial architectural styles. The building boasts massive arched doorways, high ceilings, spacious courtyards, and wide balconies designed to capture cool mountain breezes. Visitors can explore the preserved rooms, historical photographs, and vintage furniture while enjoying sweeping 360-degree views of Lake Jipe, Tsavo West, and Mount Kilimanjaro. Today, the castle operates as a boutique heritage hotel and historical museum.
Mzima Springs
Mzima Springs is a famous natural oasis situated within Tsavo West National Park, producing over 50 million gallons of crystal-clear water daily. The springs are fed by an underground aquifer filtered through hundreds of square kilometers of porous volcanic ash from the Chyulu Hills. Visitors walk along a paved nature trail shaded by towering date palms and fever trees, leading to an underwater glass viewing chamber. Inside the submerged glass room, tourists can observe hippos swimming effortlessly alongside schools of barbel fish and crocodilians in clear water. The site represents both a critical ecological lifesaver for Tsavo wildlife and a major source of fresh water for Mombasa city.
Salaita Hill Battlefield
Salaita Hill, situated near Taveta town, is one of the most prominent World War I historical sites in East Africa. In February 1916, this strategic hill was the site of a major battle between German forces occupying Taveta and advancing British Imperial troops. The hill contains preserved defensive military trenches, concrete bunkers, and weapon emplacements built into the rocky terrain. A visitor walking up Salaita Hill can observe remaining shell craters, bullet casings, and defensive fortifications while taking in panoramic views of Mount Kilimanjaro and the surrounding Taveta plains. The site stands as a solemn monument to the global conflict that dramatically altered the local socio-political landscape.
Maktau WWI Indian Cemetery and Forts
Maktau, located along the Voi-Taveta highway, was a key military railhead and defensive base for British and Indian Empire troops during World War I. The site houses the Maktau Indian War Cemetery, which contains the official graves and memorials of over 60 soldiers of the Indian Army who died in action between 1914 and 1918. Visitors can inspect well-maintained headstones engraved in multiple scripts, alongside the earthwork ruins of surrounding British hill forts and defensive camps. The site highlights the pivotal involvement of South Asian soldiers and African porters in the East African campaign. It remains an important pilgrimage point for military historians and descendants of the fallen soldiers.
History
Colonial
Mwangeka wa Mwenda's Anti-Colonial Resistance
In the late 19th century, Chief Mwangeka wa Mwenda emerged as a heroic leader of Taita resistance against British colonial encroachment into the Taita Hills. Mwangeka organized local warriors from his stronghold in Mwanda to ambush British expeditions trying to establish control over trade routes and impose taxation. Utilizing the impenetrable terrain and thick mountain forests of the Taita Hills, his fighters mounted effective guerrilla operations against heavily armed colonial forces. In 1892, British forces launched a massive military expedition equipped with Maxim guns to dismantle Mwangeka's resistance. After a long and fierce battle, Mwangeka was killed in combat, dealing a fatal blow to organized armed Taita opposition. Today, Mwangeka wa Mwenda is celebrated as a foundational hero of Taita-Taveta, commemorated through local songs, monuments, and institutional names.
Colonial / Post-independence
Sisal Expansion and Land Dispossession
During the early 20th century, the British colonial administration converted vast tracts of fertile lowland valleys in Mwatate and Taveta into commercial sisal plantations. Wealthy European settlers and corporate entities acquired extensive land grants, creating massive estates such as the Teita Sisal Estate and Ziwani Estate. This policy led to widespread displacement of local Dawida and Taveta communities, who were pushed into overcrowded Native Reserves high on the steep hillsides. The growth of sisal production turned Voi and Mwatate into busy industrial centers powered by migrant labor from across East Africa. However, it also sparked deep-rooted land grievances, as local residents lost access to crucial grazing land, seasonal water sources, and fertile farming valleys. These historic land concessions created enduring land tenure challenges that persist in Taita-Taveta County to this day.
Pre-colonial
Migration and Settlement in the Taita Hills
Between the 15th and 17th centuries, the ancestors of the Dawida and Saghala communities migrated into the high Taita Hills from various surrounding regions. They sought refuge in the elevated, mist-shrouded peaks to escape aggressive lowland pastoralist groups, tropical diseases, and recurrent droughts on the plains. Over generations, the settlers developed intensive terraced agriculture, ingenious gravity-fed irrigation systems, and dense forest protection networks tailored to the steep topography. The isolation of these mountain summits allowed distinct cultural practices, dialects, and social governance systems to flourish independently. This highland adaptation created a unique cultural landscape distinct from both coastal Swahili societies and neighboring lowland pastoralists. The settlement patterns established during this era continue to define land ownership and identity across the county today.
Colonial
The First World War Frontline in Taveta
At the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Taveta became the primary military flashpoint between British East Africa and German East Africa. German troops under General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck invaded and occupied Taveta, establishing heavy military outposts on Salaita Hill and surrounding ridges. For over eighteen months, Taita-Taveta served as a bloody theater of war, disrupting local agrarian life and forcing thousands of local residents into labor as military porters in the Carrier Corps. The British constructed the strategic Voi-Taveta military railway to transport troops and heavy artillery directly to the frontlines. Major offensive operations in 1916 eventually drove German forces back into German East Africa, leaving behind a landscape scarred by trenches, forts, and military cemeteries. The war dramatically altered the demography, local economy, and infrastructure of Taita-Taveta County forever.
Colonial
Construction of the Uganda Railway and Tsavo Lions
In 1898, the construction of the Uganda Railway reached the Tsavo River in present-day Taita-Taveta County, marking a famous chapter in global railway history. Construction came to a sudden, terrifying standstill when two male man-eating lions began preying on Indian contract workers and local laborers camped along the track. For over nine months, the pair killed dozens of railway workers, terrorizing camps and forcing hundreds of laborers to flee the construction site. The project engineer, Lieutenant-Colonel John Henry Patterson, spent months tracking and eventually shooting both lions in December 1898, allowing construction to resume toward Voi and Nairobi. The incident put Tsavo on the world map and catalyzed the establishment of Voi as a critical railway junction town and economic hub. Today, this event remains central to the narrative of the county's historical interaction with national infrastructure and wildlife heritage.