Chief Kivoi Mwendwa

Chief Kivoi Mwendwa
Chief Kivoi Mwendwa, 1849
Born	1780 Kitui Kenya
Died	19 August 1852 Tana River
Occupation	Slave Trader
Spouse(s)	unknown
Children	unknown
Parent(s)	unknown

Chief Kivoi Mwendwa (born in the 1780s) was a Kamba long Distance trader who lived in the present day Kitui. Kivoi is associated with guiding missionaries into the interior of the present day Kenya after he guided Rebmann and Krapf in to discovering Mount Kenya.

He met the Europeans in Mombasa and traveled with them into Ukambani where the German missionaries Johann Ludwig Krapf and Johannes Rebmann of the Anglican Church Missionary Society (CMS), in 1849 became the first white people to see Mount Kenya.^[1] At that time, Kitui was the home of Kivoi and he had several other possessions along his caravan route.

Chief Kivoi commanded a large following which included slaves, and it was he who met the missionaries in Mombasa, and guided them to Kitui where - on December 3, 1849 - they became the first Europeans to set eyes on Mount Kenya.^[2]

Back in Europe, their reports of snow on the equatorial mountain were met with disbelief and ridicule for many years after Chief Kivoi interacted with Arabs in the coast and Voi town was named after him because that was one of his stop overs towns where caravans settled before entered into the coastal town of Mombasa. According locals of Voi Town, Kivoi settled along Voi River in the mid 1800s.

His actual birth date is unknown as is not recorded but he its believed to have lived between 1780s to 19 August 1852. His descendants are not known in historical context but he was adversely mentioned by Dr. Ludwig Krapf in his Mission to Africa.

According to Dr. Ludwig Krapf, he was killed together with his immediate followers after his caravan was attacked by robbers in the second expedition in Tana River 2 miles from Yatta.

According to his diary entry Ludwig Krapf says, 'This expedition proved most calamitous, and, as already mentioned, Krapf's "escape with life was a marvel.'

'When within a mile or two of the Dana, the party was suddenly attacked by robbers. The greater part of the caravan was instantly dispersed, Kivoi's people flying in all directions; Kivoi himself was killed with his immediate followers; Krapf fired his gun twice, but into the air, "for," said he, "I could not bring myself to shed the blood of man;" and then he found himself in the bash, separated from both friend and foe, and flying in what he supposed to be the best direction.'

After the death of Chief Kivoi, Ludwig Krapf was accused of causing his death and the Akamba condemned him to die also. At midnight he managed to escape, and fled in the direction of Yatta. His perils were now greater than before, as he was in an inhabited country, and feared to travel by day lest he should be detected and murdered, while at night he frequently missed his way, and in the dense darkness of the forests his compass was of little use.

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