The days after Christmas are marked by a soaring heat in Kenya’s North Coast and a buzz around Kilifi. The vibrancy of the coast’s bustle reflects the strong sense of community that gathers here each year for BTB. Whispers of the festival ripple across venues all along the coast.

Beneath the Baobabs (BTB) Festival is home to a fusion of local, Pan-African and diverse communities coming together in Kilifi, Kenya, for two nights under the baobabs, a vital tree in the African ecosystem.

The key values? 

As the BTB team describes, the mission of the festival is through transformation and inspiration, through uniting people of all backgrounds, by providing a safe platform, especially for marginalised communities, to enjoy established and emerging East African Music, Art, Performance and Wellness, whilst learning how to live more consciously and sustainably.

The set design across 5 stages opens doors to different worlds of: afrohouse, 3-step, jungle, electronic, reggae, drum and bass and hip hop. 

Vendors offering Swahili, Ethiopian, vegan and other cuisines swarm around the mix of clothing, jewellery, face painting and tattoo stalls. Brought to the festival through word of mouth throughout the country, the vendors originate from Ethiopia to Malindi, Kilifi, Nairobi and all across Kenya. This mix of offerings reflects the inclusive, community-centred spirit that defines the festival.  

A  floating tarp envelopes straw bales offering a space for festival go-ers to ground themselves into a restful sleep. The Sanctuary area carves space for people to sit down, to embrace the whispering tree leaves and rustling straw.  Wooden decking overlooking the bush allows participants to connect with themselves and with each other through yoga, mindfulness and workshops. The festival zones sit intertwined in the rich East African bush, capturing the heart of the music.

BTB began at Distant Relatives Ecolodge & Backpackers as a multi-day festival. Now, with its growth, it has moved to a nearby site within an ancient Baobab forest. The festival can hold up to 10,000 people across its five stages.

Baobab Studios, a recording studio based on the festival site, has its own stage. The Boabab Studios stage gives a platform to local artists, centering the community within the frame of a growing festival. From dance, hip hop, R&B to traditional music, the breadth of the music was amazing and the crowd danced under the lightly floating canopy.  Baobab Studios impressively showcased the legacy of the Mijikenda people while integrating it with the multiple other genres on offer at BTB, protecting and spotlighting culture. The seamless connection between legacy and emerging music shows respect, significance and just how inclusive this community is.

As the bustle of the crowd whittled down in the early hours of the morning, dancing back through the orange tapestry to the exit or their onsite camps, the air fizzed with euphoria, exhaustion and dancing energy. 

Tall, one of the photographers behind the exhibition “A Sense of Home,” describes the Kilifi community as “very helpful” and “a great example of one of the nicest communities.” You can see it through the angles and shading he exposes in his photography, in his depiction of Kilifi as home. The work of the exhibitors at “A Sense of Home” captures Kilifi as a welcoming home and shows how the festival nurtures that sense of belonging.

Words used by festival goers and contributors to describe the community created at BTB include:

Eclectic.

Helpful.

Home.

Amalgamation.

Different.

Fairness.

Respect.

Bryan has been community manager at BTB for the last 3 years and his words collect the festival atmosphere in one phrase, “we celebrate the whole of humanity here, people from all over the world are welcome to dance with us, eat with us, interact with us”

That’s exactly what it felt like, different cultures, people, artists, vendors, tourists, locals, regulars, one-offs, blending together to create a living, breathing community that celebrates the beauty of humanity.

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BTB 2026

By Emily Colquhoun

With a warming smile that beams into hearts

Straw bales perched in sleep-ready circles

Beckoning bodies to lie, pounding in the fusion –

The fusion of afrohose, dub, reggae, 

An amalgamation of cultures and beats,

Electric vibes and colours that spotlight cultures.

Bound by Kilifi’s music scene,

Tied by East African food stalls,

Coastal clothing sellers, handmade gems

Decorate the community,

Links of the people are drawn here

Under the Baobab tree,.

Divergence breeds and populates

Gathering into one swarm, 

Sitting together and

Overlooking the richness of the Bush.

Ghedi storms the midnight countdown

Vibrations echo beyond phones,

Beyond friends, into strangers,

Bbyy on The Island and Soulfud capture the clock turn

Artists channel the magnetism

Of the crowds energy, 

Energy feeding energy. 

Screaming beckons the crowd closer

Closer at tighter at the clock turn, 

Under the Boabab tree, 

We meet for the new year. 

Space is given freely, 

Movement is embraced wildly, 

Bare feet and open arms entwined in the forests’ roots –

Branches outreach. 

Laughter, chatter, patter of variety, 

The patter of unity, the patter of music’s charm, 

Beneath the Baobab 2026.

Photo credit: Author