Paradise Lost
Volcanic-rock caverns carved by a river, screened by a waterfall said to date back two and a half million years.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Paradise Lost in Nairobi starts with the name locals still use for these caves, Mbai, and the surprising claim staked at the gate: that the caverns were carved fifty metres into volcanic rock by the Gichi River as long as two and a half million years ago, based on obsidian shards found on the cave floor. It follows the caves into the nineteen fifties, when Mau Mau fighters used the tunnel system as a hideout behind the waterfall that still screens its mouth. Locals call it a three-D waterfall, since from three sides you barely register there is an opening behind it at all.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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