Gedi happens to be similar to Peru's Machu Picchu courtesy of it's rich history
(A photo of our C.E.O with his niece while on tour at the Gedi Ruins)
When you think of world famous lost cities you probably think of Machu Picchu, the Peruvian city built on the mountains of Peru by the Incas around 1450 then abandoned a century later. Petra in Jordan, Pompeii in Italy and maybe the most popular one, Troy, which was the setting of the Trojan war in which Hollywood produced a movie by the same name whereby Brad Pitt played the starring role as ACHILLES, who is regarded as the most prolific of all Greek warriors. But today we touch on Kenya's lost city,GEDI.
(A picture of one of the two mosques inside the settlement of Gedi)
This settlement is one of Kenya's most fascinating mysteries, a settlement thought to have been founded in the 11th century.They had streets, running water and even in-house washrooms. An architectural marvel made of a mix of white lime and red soil to build their large walled houses ( the walls were made large in order to control the temperature inside the house). There are three mosques within the city's borders with two being located inside the city's walls and the third one outside the city's walls for the local Galla community (similar structures have been found in Somalia and Ethiopia where the Galla have had presence shows that they had input in the construction of the City).
The city is largely believed to have been an ARABIC settlement who then inter-married with the local Galla community of which this union brought forth today's "WASWAHILI COMMUNITY". The city had two walls, the outer wall was 9 feet tall and the inner wall was 7 foot tall built to keep foreigners outside the city's walls for the protection of the citizens. Inside the mosques was a life-size door dug into the wall of the mosque whereby the person leading the prayers would shout into the door and it would give his voice an echoing effect making it sound like he is using a microphone, all this in the 11th Century!
(Pictured below is such a door found in all the mosques)
( The IMAM would lead prayers while facing the door chamber in the photo above to create an echoing effect that would amplify his voice meaning everyone at the mosque hears the prayers clearly)
On site there was a King's Palace that had a court inside where he would listen to cases involving men and the Queen would listen to cases involving women. Right next to the court was a door which leads to the Armory which was built by the Wagalla/Oromo (a local Cushite ethnic group native to Kenya and Ethiopia) but right before getting into the Armory was the "Magic liquid pot room" named so because it had a pot full of liquid which was believed to be guarded by spells as they believed anyone who would try to smuggle weapons from the Armory without approval would get stuck in this room. Excavations in this particular site were led by one Mr.John Kirk, a British National who used to reside in Zanzibar and later down the line one Mr.James Kirkman ( believed to have been a relative of Mr.John Kirk because of their names' similarity) who was a Warden in Kenya played a part in the restoration of this marvelous settlement. The town has four pillared tombs, the tombs are said to to belong to some of the most important people at the time. Inside the inner wall is a series of houses with the four largest being;
a) The house on the wall.
b) The house of the Dhow.
c) The house on the West Wall.
d) The Large house.
(pictured below is a 300 year old tree that has grown on a wall in GEDI)
There are other smaller houses like:
a) House of Chinese cash ( Chinese coins were found inside this particular house during excavation).
b) House of the Porcelain bowl.
c) House of the Cistern.
d) House of two rooms.
e) The house of scissors (scissors were found in this room).
f) House of Venetian beads.
g) House of the cowries ( Cowry shells were used as a currency back then)
h) House of the Iron lamp.
i) House of the Iron box.
j) House of the Well.
k) House of make-up ( two eye pencils were found in this room).
(A picture of a dated tomb at the Gedi Ruins shows that it was the tomb of an important man)
Evidence suggests that the Arabs who were living here were from Oman of whom their Arabic language and the mix of the local Bantu language which gave birth to the Swahili language which is Kenya's national language today and happens to be spoken in the wider Eastern, Central and parts of Southern Africa. This site was discovered in 1884 by the then colonial administration but the local Mijikenda community knew about it's presence. It is widely believed that the city was abandoned in the 17th Century but the exact reason is obscure but there are some genuine theories that can explain the abandonment of the city --The four most probable reasons are:
a) Decline of the water table.
b) Civil war amongst the locals.
c) Plague - they might have contracted the plague carried by the rats that were brought in by the Portuguese when the Portuguese introduced maize to the locals.
d) Attempts by the Portuguese to monopolise trade and armed intervention is supported by there being Portuguese presence at the Kenyan Coast in the 16th Century.
Gedi is definitely worth a visit more so when in Malindi not only for the experience of visiting an ancient storied city but also for the rich history that you will learn courtesy of our guides.
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