Marafa Hell’s Kitchen: Where the Earth Cooks After Dark

The Africana Voice

Marafa Hell's Kitchen: Where the Earth Cooks After Dark

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00:00 / 18:13

There’s a place in Kilifi, near Malindi, Kenya’s North Coast’s touristy town, that glows at sunset like it’s on the verge of confessing something. They call it Hell’s Kitchen. The heat there can swallow you whole in daylight, but the name is attributed to what is believed to happen at night. You see at night, the locals swear they can smell food rising from the canyon. They believe something cooks there after dark.  Steve Mokaya travelled to Marafa and sat down with the man who has lived closest to that mystery; Peter Ngala, 57, a guide who has watched the rocks change colour, and the land reshape itself. He knows the version told to tourists. And he knows the version whispered when the tourists leave. If you only know Marafa as a pretty stopover for Instagram photos, this episode may ruin that innocence, in the most satisfying way.