The Mijik­en­da Kaya Forests con­sist of 10 sep­a­rate for­est sites spread over some 200 km along the coast con­tain­ing the remains of numer­ous for­ti­fied vil­lages, known as kayas, of the Mijik­en­da peo­ple. The kayas, cre­at­ed as of the 16th cen­tu­ry but aban­doned by the 1940s, are now regard­ed as the abodes of ances­tors and are revered as sacred sites and, as such, are main­tained as by coun­cils of elders. The site is inscribed as bear­ing unique tes­ti­mo­ny to a cul­tur­al tra­di­tion and for its direct link to a liv­ing tra­di­tion.