Mambrui: The disappearing town

Mambrui town, or at least what’s left of it, was once heavily affected by slave trade. A settlement of 4000 people, Mambrui lies in Marikebuni, about 10km from Sabaki along Malindi –Lamu road North of Malindi.

Despite the creeping sand dunes, the slumbering fishing village is a destination for Islamic Pilgrims and it hosts Quran schools. Mambrui’s golden age was the 15th Century. It was built by Arab slave traders.

Today the once thriving Malindi Kingdom sits in outskirts of civilisation, covered by a blanket of silence. In only few decades, this haunting town will no longer exist in the face of the earth because giant sand dunes are approaching to gobble it up according to UNESCO–Kenya National Seminar paper (1997) on Sustainable Coastal Development.

The dunes are caused by raging sand storms. They are creeping closer and closer to the 200-year-old Qubaa mosque and the Mambrui primary and secondary schools.

One of the residents, Mzee Salim, stands by the side of his crumbling house. His aged and weakly eyes shift to the worn out side and become glazed with glassy layer of tears. He blinks, bites his lips and swallows unknown words that he wanted to gaggle out of his mouth after a long silence he speaks.

‘This is the last of the houses built here. It stood the test of time but now the winds have proved to be stronger. I have no money to build another house and I have no land elsewhere” he says in a quivering voice.

Mambrui gained archaeological interest after a discovery of iron slags, iron smelter, jade green shard of porcelain and Chinese coin of an early 15th Century, the era of the Yongle Emperor during the Ming Dynasty.

The Kenyan and Chinese team working on the archaeological project in Mambrui, if successful, will unravel the date of East African Coast trade with the East. The archaeological work has caused jitters among the residents who suspect that the archaeologists are excavating to take away skeletons and artefacts of their ancestors.

Mzee Salim echoes another concern: “The cries of disturbed spirits are terrible; we do not want to hear them, let them for the peace of our hearts never take anything that belongs to the dead –bones or what else that might be buried with them.”

The low tide beach stretches for about five kilometres to the north of the Galana River estuary. Mambrui is one of the few beaches where holiday makers are allowed to drive along Mambrui’s best attraction, Che Chale beach which is a lonely golden glittery and seemly endless stretch of sandy gold, vivid in the brilliant light.

FACTS

Mambrui settlement is is situated at the East of Marikebuni , South of Gongoni and , a 30-hour drive North of Malindi town, along Malindi-Lamu road. Visitors looking for tranquility can stay at Nyumba ya Ebenezer, Robert’s house, Mazuri home, Nyumba Tisa, Mikida House, Che Shale and Angel’s Bay Beach Resort. The accommodation rates range from Sh6,000 to Sh25,000 per night.

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