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The scorching sun casts its unrelenting rays, literally baking the thirsty land in the South Coast, Kwale county. Beneath, the gaping caves of Shimoni stand as silent witnesses to the passage of time, offering a tantalising escape from the high temperatures above ground and a mesmerising journey into the heart of the historical caves.

Inside the caves, a breeze from the sea blows through, producing an eerie whistle-like noise. A visitor familiar with the history of the place may think the caves are mourning the passing of Kenyan-born British balladeer Roger Whittaker.

It was here where the fallen music star of “The Last Farewell” hit is said to have “heard voices of slaves” telling a tale of misery when he visited the caves in 1982.

 “Whittaker was here and after the story of slaves and their suffering inside the caves was explained to him, it is said he went in meditation and heard the voices of slaves in his head. The slaves were wailing amidst gunshots and whipping. Up to date, we believe anyone who visits the caves and observes silence, they will hear the sad voices as well,” explained Athman Ng’onga a tour guide at the caves.

 Listening to the classic song Shimoni, which the late Whittaker composed after visiting the caves, will only strum your emotional heartstrings from the beginning to the end.

Emotional rage

 At the end of the four minutes and nine seconds song, the song leaves you with emotional rage and deep imagination on the level of viciousness, torture and humiliation your fellow Africans had to endure during the times of African slave trade.

 This timeless musical piece under the album titled, My land is Kenya, sums up the  A to Z about the dark days of Arab slave trade between the Kenyan Coast and East African slaves market in Zanzibar.

 “…there is a hole in the side of Africa, where the walls will speak if you won’t leave this, walls that tell a tale so sad, that the tears on the cheeks of Africa glisten, stand and hear a million slaves, telling you how the walk so far, that many die in misery, while the rest were sold in Zanzibar. Shimoni! Shimoni! Shimoni…” goes part of Whittaker’s Shimoni lyrics.

 “It’s sad that he has passed on, he kept our village in the world map through his song and we are grateful that he lived. We celebrate his life,” said Saumu Ramadhan, a resident of Shimoni.

 Nestled about 80 kilometers south of Mombasa, the gaping coral holes are a stark reminder of nothing but blood, sweat and tears that characterised the daily lives of men and women who would be hunted by Oman Arabs from far and wide villages across the Coast, brutalised and captured, before being dragged to be lumped together in the caves awaiting transportation to the slave market in Zanzibar 400 years ago in the 16th Century.

Two theories revolve around discovery of the caves which are believed to have been as a result of the movementof tectonic plates many years ago before the 16th Century. The first theory suggests that people escaping slave trade in Tanzania and Zanzibar were the first ones to discover the caves and used them as their hideouts from hostile tribes.

Another theory suggests the caves were discovered by the Kifundi community which is an offspring between the Persian community locally known as Shirazi (From Iran and Iraq) and local Digo communities of the Mijikenda.

 The Kifundi, who still exist and are spread in local villages of Mkwiro, Shirazi, Bodo and Funzi areas would also use the place as hideouts. They named the caves as Kaoni— a Kifundi dialect meaning they can’t see.

 The caves are dark, moist and stuffy with two tunnels one leading to the mainland and the second one, on the left side stretching underground to the Indian Ocean.

 As Ng’onga explains, it is here where a thousand slaves would be collected enduring heat, suffocation and ocean water sipping into the caves through the underground tunnels during high tides.

 “On their arrival in East Africa, the Arabs, who were mainly slave traders, established a slave market in Zanzibar Island which they would use to run their nefarious trade. They then brought in various Sultans of Oman in different periods to control the slave market in East Africa…so these caves were being used as a collection point for slaves,” says Ng’onga.

Underground route

 Armed with guns, the Arabs would go out hunting for slaves in nearby villages and the interior. The guide says sometimes, through scheming with local paramount chiefs, who would trigger cattle rustling war with intentions to capture captives of war who will then be hounded away through caravan routes and finally into the caves.

 With the Arabs brandishing guns against the local communities who only had spears and machetes, the slave traders would always have a field day in the trade.

 Inside the caves, they would be forced to unceremoniously stay for about three to four weeks in which they would have reached the intended target of 1,000 slaves ready to be exited through the underground route onto awaiting vessels for shipment to Zanzibar.

 “This entrance you are seeing here today has a staircase, but during the days of slavery, there was nothing like starecases. The entrance was a slanting cliff where the slaves would first be loaded with heavy luggage then pushed in.  The luggage would mean that their entry will be quick.”

 But while waiting for their shipment day, their stay at the cave would be characterised by nothing short of absolute torture and humiliation.

 Sustained echoes of whip cracks coupled with loud screams of the slaves emanating from the caves were the order of the day, as evidenced by the existence of remaining pieces of rusty metallic chains and hooks which were reportedly used for tying the slaves.

 On one side of the walls in the caves is evidence of a carved out chamber elevated about one metre off the ground, said to be used as watchtower from where a muscular hawk-eyed guard is said to have stayed to keep watch of the slaves and averted any attempts to escape.

  “The guard would stand on this watchtower facing the slaves and anyone who would dare attempt to escape was either gunned down instantly or tied facing the walls with his arms and legs spread widely open and then mercilessly whipped using a stick made from tamarind tree,” the guide explains.

 Just below the watchtower is a piece of coral rock protruding from the wall, which is said to have been specially designed for the punisher to rest and regain energy before continuing with the whipping.

 “The caning was severe until the punisher got exhausted. The punishment was done as other slaves watched to instill fear…they would be treated like animals. At times others would be whipped continuously just to assess their level of resilience and strength to work in slavery. Most of them died in the process.”

 During the month-long wait at the caves, the slaves would not be allowed to eat anything. They were only provided with dates from Oman, without a single drop of water to quench their thirst.

 “As you know, dates have high sugar content and make one feel thirsty yet they were never given water. Instead, they were forced to drill a two-feet deep well on a coral surface from where they would drink salty water. Later on, the well which sits below a gaping hole from the roof of the cave would be used to trap rainwater whenever it rains and that’s how those who were lucky survived,” according to Ng’onga.

Outbreak of diseases

 During high tides, water from the ocean would creep into the caves but the occupants had nowhere to run, except to endure the rising water levels sometimes up to the waist level.

 The brutality, congestion and starvation would lead to outbreak of diseases and sometimes deaths, but the slaves would be ordered to dump the bodies in the ocean.

 Many others died along the long treks to the caves and others died while being shipped to Zanzibar. “Bodies of those who died on the caravan routes to the caves were abandoned on the way…those who died during shipment were just dumped in the ocean.” Whereas today the caves have been installed with lighting, captives at the caves endured darkness with only feeble beams of light leaking from the hollow sections above the caves being their only source of light.

 It is said the dealers in slave trade preferred it that way to confuse their targets and control their minds with ease. During the reign of slavery, areas around the caves were dreaded like leprosy. It is said there were no villages around as local communities feared falling prey.

 But, after the arrival of the British in East Africa around 1822, the first signing of a series of treaties with Sultan Said of Zanzibar to bring the trade to an end was witnessed.  But this did not end immediately.

 The British, however, continued to pile pressure, officially resulting in the abolition of the trade in 1876. Slavery remained legal in Zanzibar until 1897. The end of slavery invited locals to establish settlements near caves and convert the caves into shrines.

 Piles of empty votive rosewater bottles, together with red black and white ribbons indicate, the site definitely has significance for locals. “Traditionalists who still believe in the African tradition consider this place as holy and they normally come here during times of calamity or drought to pray,” says the guide.