At Menengai Crater in Nakuru, Kenya, curious tourists are drawn to a controversial cave by stories of strange happenings that have convinced many that this is a haunted place.
A number of strange things are said to happen in the crater, such as people disappearing without trace, Others losing directions for hours (or even days) only to be found by their relatives wandering around in a trance.
The local people believe that the crater is haunted by evil spirits that capture people and animals and hide them in the netherworld.It is said that in the late 1950s and early 1960s, ghosts used to farm on a fertile piece of land on the floor of the crater.
According to eye witnesses, the ‘demons’ used to plough the land with tractors, plant wheat and harvest all within an hour. The locals even claim to have seen the devil riding a motorcycle on a hill called “Kirima Kia ngoma (Devil’s Hill)” situated next to the crater. There is also the widespread allegation of a ‘flying umbrella’ that normally appears whenever it rains.
But despite the eerie stories about the crater, pilgrims from as far as Kisumu, Kakamega and even Mombasa come to pray and fast at the site for days.
Some even stay in the cave at the south of the crater for months. They say that they feel very close to God when praying in the crater.
Menengai Crater is an extinct volcano with striking views of Lake Nakuru, Lake Bogoria as well as the crater itself.
The site offers excellent hiking opportunity, scenic site, hot springs, geysers, mud pots among others. Africa Point organises hikes to Menengai all around the year. Click here to see our other African Kenya Safari
at 14:26
I am so happy to see this article on ‘Menegai crater”. My parents were British and lived in Nakuru in the 1920′s! I was born and raised there – going to Nakuru School in the 1940′s! (Oh yes, I am now a ‘mzee!’) In my youth we could only drive to the top of the crater and look down. As a kid I was always sure it was going to erupt in spite of being extinct as we could sometimes hear rumbles I’m sure. I live in Canada now and have always had a little bit of NAKURU in my soul. Hyrax Hill was close to Nakuru School, and where I lived we could see “Honeymoon Hill” in front of the Lake. How I hated it in the dry season when Lake Nakuru would dry up and the soda would slowly drift into town and cover everything with white dust – does this still happen? Thanks for the memory. I could go on – but don’t want to use too much of this space! June
at 09:30
Good article on menengai crater. We have teamed up to turn the crater into a wildlife conservancy. You are all welcome to participate in this noble project.