A tour of the Mutomo hill

Forester’s house from decades ago - Mutomo Hill. PHOTO | RUPI MANGAT

What you need to know:

  • Back in the colonial days, a white forester made these hills his home, hoping to turn them into a flora and fauna sanctuary. The remains of his house point to a set of picturesque rondavels in brick. Their roofs are missing, but they have the potential to morph into a beautiful holiday home.
  • We continue to Ikutha where one of the first inland Christian churches was established in 1895 by German missionary Johann Hoffman and his wife Emilie. The church still stands by a gigantic baobab.

It was in Chief Kivoi’s village in Kitui county that Johann Krapf became the first European to sight Mount Kenya’s snowy peaks in 1849. When Krapf asked the local Kamba community what the mountain was called, they replied Kinyaa – the mountain of the ostriches – because of its snowy white peaks against the black granite. And thus ‘Kenya’ was born.

The drive from Kitui town to Ikutha, in the west, with a stop at a historical botanical garden, is interesting.

 “Have you ever been to UAE?” asks Charles Mwendwa of the county tourism department. “No – never,” I reply, wondering where the sudden question for the United Arab Emirates arises from. “Look, here we are.” He points to a road sign – UAE. It’s a village and it is pronounced ‘Uwai.’

We proceed to Mutomo village where Mutomo hospital, once one of the best referral hospitals, stands. It has been run down but is now on the upswing. The stands on the edge of the Mutomo hill, which features fascinating rock faces.

Up on the rock face overlooking the village, we bump into Peter Mwanzia Nzioka, who is working on a half-a-million-litre water storage tank that will be completed by end of March.

HUGE POTENTIAL

As we circle the 500-cubic metre reinforced concrete dam, the contractor tells us more. “From the tank, the water will flow downwards to the entire Kitui South, to villages like Ikutha, Mutomo, Kanziku and others.” The source of the water is Kangu Kangu Treatment works 40 kilometres away. In this water-stressed, drought prone county where women spend hours in search of water, this will ease their burden.

Back in the colonial days, a white forester made these hills his home, hoping to turn them into a flora and fauna sanctuary. The remains of his house point to a set of picturesque rondavels in brick. Their roofs are missing, but they have the potential to morph into a beautiful holiday home. “We’re working on a snake farm,” says Ferdinand Mathenge of Kitui tourism.

At this point, Mwendwa spots an enormous blue centipede. “It’s really venomous,” he says. The venomous leggy creature moves on, disturbing a line of safari ants. All hell breaks loose.

The ants attack it, crawling and biting on the now visibly antagonised creature. It moves with lighting speed to escape the wrath of the ants and vanishes into the tall grasses.

“Watch,” continues Mwendwa, snipping a few pods from tall stalks of grass. He holds them in his palm and pours a little water over them. The pods explode, taking us by surprise.

We continue to Ikutha where one of the first inland Christian churches was established in 1895 by German missionary Johann Hoffman and his wife Emilie. The church still stands by a gigantic baobab. It’s solid with thick walls and columns overlooking the Yatta plateau and the plains. It is now a store; a newer church built on the grounds. The century-old graves of the children born to the German missionaries lie under tombstones inscripted in German.

Ikutha is busy with new multi-storey official complexes mushrooming. Standing on the old church veranda, the road ahead looks like it would make a nice drive to Kibwezi through Yatta plateau, the world’s longest lava stretch, and on to the great Tsavo. I leave it for another time.

 

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Head to Kitui

Wildlife, history, culture – it’s a great county to explore. Check your map for the many roads leading into the county. Write to [email protected] for sites to see, places to visit and stay.

Nairobi to Kitui town – 174 kms via Thika road enroute to Garissa or through Machakos.