Three Stone Fires

I tend to focus on pics of new and interesting stoves, but here's a pic of a woman in her kitchen, where she uses the 'Mawe Tatu Jiko' (three stone stove) or Jiko ya kienyeji (traditional stove). You can see a few other traditional things on the wall- milk jugs made of gourds and a basket thing for sifting flour to make ugali. Her stove actually had 8 stones, and could support up to three pots... I think this conserves fuel to some extent, as the flames could heat different pots at the same time.

In general, though, this represents the way to use the most amount of fuel in the shortest amount of time in the most inefficient manner. But, it's tradition...

The scenery outside the house, in an area called Endebess. This area has the highest usage rate of mawe tatu, despite there not being many trees around at all. In fact, I have yet to find someone that cooks only with firewood. In reality, everyone uses fuelwood to supplement the maize cobs and stalks they also burn.