Marafa is the most underrated site on the coast and is an absolutely incredible natural wonder and it’s remote enough to give you an incredibly unspoilt experience in the wilds of the rural Kenya coast.
Marafa Depression /Hells kitchen /Nyari is One of the more intriguing sights inland from Kenya North coast . About 30km northeast of Malindi, it’s an eroded sandstone gorge where jungle, red rock and cliffs heave themselves into a single stunning Mars-like landscape. it was once a great sandstone ridge worn by wind, rain, and floods into a series of jagged gorges. The layer-cake colors of the sandstone reveal whites, pinks, oranges, and deep crimsons, making the gorge particularly striking at sundown, when tones of the ribbed sandstone gullies are highlighted and mirrored by those of the setting sun, this unique and otherworldly landscape has become part of local folklore.
The depression is currently managed as a local tourism concern by Marafa village, with the steep admission costs going into village programs. A guide will walk you around the lip of the gorge and into its heart of sandstone spikes and melted-candle-like formations, and tell the story of Hell’s Kitchen. Which goes like so: a rich family was so careless with their wealth that they bathed themselves in the valuable milk of their cows.
God became angry with this excess and sank the family homestead into the earth. The white and red walls of the depression mark the milk and blood of the family painted over the gorge walls. The more mundane explanation?
The depression is a chunk of sandstone that's geologically distinct from the surrounding rock and more susceptible to wind and rain erosion. It's such a breathtaking view worth visiting while in the coast region.
Quaint rural communities, ladies carry bags and buckets on their heads, children carry babies on their backs and lone cyclists all creating interesting sights along the way.