The infamous slave trade

The Shimoni caves

"In the 18^th and 19^th Centuries, at the height of the infamous slave trade, the big slaving dhows from Arabia came down on the monsoon winds to the East Coast of Africa, returning with their miserable human cargoes of slaves. These slaves were captured by Arab ‘caravans’ in hinterland often after burning and sacking whole villages in the most brutal circumstances, and then eventually shipped to the infamous slave market in Zanzibar for onward shipment to Arabia.

Thousands died on the march, their bodies left by the roadside, to be devoured by wild animals. Of those that did reach the Coast, many never made it to Arabia, dying of disease or just plain despair in the atrocious conditions of the overcrowded holds of the slave ships. The sharks soon learned to follow in their wake, for the daily harvest of the dead corpses that were thrown overboard.

It is almost certain that these caves (the Shimoni caves ed.) were used by the Arabs as a slave pen, where the slaves were held pending the arrival of the ship to take them to Zanzibar."

Captured slaves are believed to have waited 2-3 weeks in the Shimoni caves before they were shipped to Zanzibar and from there to Yemen and America. 600-1000 slaves went at a time. About 400 of them would die. In Kenya, slaves came from the Coastal and Kamba communities. Their chiefs sold them to the Arabs.