Mau Mau Caves

Useful Information

Location:	Aberdare National Park. On the Burguret River, in the foothills of Mt. Kenya. 180 km from Nairobi. 3 h walk from the lodge. (-0.311187, 36.962805)
Open:	All year daily 6-18. [2023]
Fee:	Foreigners: Adults USD 52, Children USD 26. Residents: Adults KSH 300, Children KSH 215. Citizens: Adults KSH 300, Children KSH 215. [2023]
Classification:
Light:	bring torch.
Dimension:
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Aberdare National Park, P.O. Box 22 - 10100, Nyeri, Kenya, Tel: +254-772-171242, Tel: +254-773789145. E-mail: Kenya Wildlife Service, P.O. Box 40241-00100, Nairobi, Kenya, Tel: +254-20-600800, Fax: +254-20-603792. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1953	discovered by Mau Mau freedom fighters and used as a hideout.
1959	destroyed by the Royal Air Force during the Mau-mau rebellion.

Description

Kenya has more Mau Mau Caves than it has caves. Any hole, may it be a cave, a cellar, a gorge or a collapsed barn is called Mau Mau Cave. It's worse than Bat Cave. Obviously it's impossible to keep them apart if there are so many of them, and they all have the same name. However, this is the Mau Mau Cave and it is not a cave.

This Mau Mau Cave may have been the hideout of Mau Mau freedom fighters. That's the reason why they were destroyed in 1959, the British Royal Air Force bombed the cave into oblivion. Legend says this led to the death of 200 Mau Mau freedom fighters. Because of its historic relevance, the cave is today on the schedule of nearly all safaris into the Mt. Kenya region. But the three hours walk to the cave is a drawback, so most tour operators offer the caves only as an optional highlight.

So the cave is gone, what is left? There is a river, a rickety half collapsed brigde which was probably once touched by the foot of a Mau Mau fighter, a very short gorge and a muddy pool for swimming. And there is actually a cave of undisclosed origin. Its so undisclosed that there is actually not a single picture of it on the web. Oh, there are hundreds of pictures, but all of them are either out of focus, show only a piece of rock wall, show landscape with a black frame which might be a cave, or some guys making stupid faces with a black background. Some say it's another cave. Some say it was dug later to have a place for the memorial. The whole thing is complicated, weird, and more religion than history.