Ireri wa Irugi: The Story of the Embu Prophet

Ireri wa Irugi: The Prophet of the Embu
Ireri wa Irugi was perhaps the most famous of all the prophets of the Embu. It is said that he communicated directly with Mwene Njeru or God, and that was why he was able to prophecy future events.

The Embu and Mbeere are among the few peoples of Kenya whose oral traditions locate their origins within the country itself. That is to the southeast of Mount Kirinyaga or Mount Kenya, close to their present day location.

They are a Bantu-speaking people, closely related to the Gikuyu of Ndia and Gicugu to the west, the Mbeere and the Kamba to the southeast, and the Chuka and the Meru to the north.

Ireri wa Irugi’s most famous prophecy is that he foresaw the coming of the white man through a dream.

In his dream, he saw an iron snake running from the Indian Ocean to present day Lake Victoria. This came to be the Kenya-Uganda railway. In the same dream, he saw white butterflies filling the entire land, a presage of the coming of Europeans.

After yet another dream, he warned people about strangers coming from the east towards Kirinyaga. These strangers had with them an iron-mouthed animal that would be used to collect all ethnic groups and make them helpless. The coming of British soldiers from the eastern side of Embu, and the subsequent conquest of the Embu people, was seen as the fulfillment of that prophecy.

Ireri wa Irugi exhibited many other mystical powers including the ability to appear and disappear at will whenever he foresaw danger.

Little is known about Ireri’s life outside his role as a seer or even how his life ended. However his prophetic powers have assured his lace in history.

Ireri wa Irugi's legacy lives on
Mount Kenya is the second tallest mountain in Africa and the tallest in Kenya. It is a World Heritage Site surrounded by beautiful scenery. It has lakes, tarns, glaciers, dense forest, mineral springs and a selection of rare and endangered species of animals, high altitude adapted plains game and unique montane and alpine vegetation.

It is a good site for mountain climbing, camping and caving with the mountain’s rugged glacier-clad peaks providing the perfect backdrop.