“Kit-Mikayi” Mysterious Rock Formation in the Town of Kisumu in Western Kenya

Kit-Mikayi is a rock formation a tor almost 40 m high. Kit-Mikayi means “The Stone of First Woman” & “Stone of First Wife.” It is also called “Kit Mikayi”, “Kitmikayi”, and “Kitmikaye” is situated about 29 km west of the town of Kisumu in western Kenya. It is about one kilometer from the Kisumu-Bondo road, however, the sign board is on the gate of Kit Mikayi primary school and entrance is via N’gop-Ngeso primary school. The legend behind Kit Mikayi, which in Luo dialect means "the stone of the first wife", is that: Long time ago, there was an old man by the name Ngeso who was in great love with the stone. Every day when he woke up in the morning, he could walk into the cave inside the stone and stay there the whole day, and this could force his wife to bring him breakfast and lunch every day. The old man became passionately in love with this stone to the extent that when people asked his wife his whereabouts, she would answer that he has gone to his first wife hence the stone of the first wife. Moreover, local inhabitants living around the stones are recognized as the Luo-Kakello clan.

This place is associated with sacrifices and various legends from pre-Christian times, particularly stories explaining the meaning of the name. Kit-Mikayi is a regional point of sightseeing interest, exclusively among the neighboring Luo tribes. It also has become a famous local pilgrimage place for followers of the Legio Maria sect who come to the rock for several weeks at a time. Futhermore, the unique stone structure represents the Luo cultural polygamous family which had the first wife’s house (Mikayi) built further in between on the right hand side was the 2nd wife’s Nyachira house though the third wife’s Reru house was built on the left hand side of the homestead.

This rock also is seen to have a nuclear family whereby the father “Ngeso” being the middle stone followed by the bulky Mikayi “first wife”, and then second wife “Nyachira” and then followed by third wife “Reru” and further in front they’ve the child which is representing “Simba” the house for the first born boy in the homestead. From a long time, this stone has been a holy place for the villagers to worship in times of trouble. Kit-Mikayi is really a cluster of rocks is a mystery, because there are some stones, which are mysteriously hanging in the air by mysterious reasons, still influence the life of residents. Apart from stunning shape and patterns of the rocks, tourists are really surprised at the eerie environment at the footsteps of the cave and huge trees that grows horizontally leaves the impression of unnatural features. Kit-Mikayi rocks are so huge and heavey, as no human being could have arranged them in a spectacular style in which they’re appearing. Therefore, there are numerous spectacular rock formations which abound with myths and mythologies. In the past, only men were allowed near the rocks, but tourists are these days very welcome.

 Source: Wikipedia