Mfangano Island, one of the few in the Lake Victoria basin to belong to Kenya, is home to one of the most important and ancient archaeological sites in East Africa, defined by international researchers as the earliest form of human expression and imagination in the region and also a nexus of culture and nature.
Its rock art inscriptions appear to date back some 4,000 years and belong to one of the earliest settlements of hunters and gatherers that preceded the arrival of the Bantus in the region of the great African lake, which, with a volume of 70,000 square kilometres, is the second largest body of fresh water on the planet.

The rock graffiti on the island of Mfangano are found in two main sites: in a cave near the sea, known as Mawanga, and in a rock shelter further inland, called Kwitone.
The island's now vanished culture, an ethnic group similar to the Tuwa pygmies originating in the forests of Congo, lived there certainly until about 2,000 years ago and left indelible signs of their passage.
Especially the red, white and black concentric circles carved on the rocks of Mawanga have been studied, which according to researchers represent shamanic symbols of supernatural kingdoms. Graffiti and similar signs have been found in Mozambique and along the course of the Zambezi River as far as Angola.

A total of 36 different sacred spaces exist on the island of Mfangano. Of these, 19 are still intact and can be visited. Here, there are niches used for sacred rituals, offerings to ancestors and for storing water and food.
The island's current inhabitants, the Suba people of Bantu ethnicity, continue to venerate these symbols, demonstrating the cultural continuity that is also present on the other Kenyan island, Rusinga, known for being the birthplace of one of the fathers of the homeland, Tom Mboya. However, the original meaning and purpose for the ancestors of the island's indigenous population, the Tuwa, is shrouded in mystery, although the custodians of the site with the rock inscriptions, called the Wasamo and called 'rainmakers', still use it for weather-related rituals.  The Wasamo are also the traditional sages of the island of Nzenze, a sacred place located just opposite the Cave, which they believe was 'always fertile'.  Important crops were cultivated here, probably sorghum and, later, maize.

Climbing along a fairly challenging path from the archaeological site, one arrives at Kwitone, an even more protected place with important archaeological significance, run by the Wagimbe clan, who relate that it was women who created the rock inscriptions. There are also circular domes, with more graffiti, which are thought to have been used for traditional games, such as bao.
Legend has it that about 300 years ago, during a feud between the Wasamo and the Wagimbe, the latter took refuge in the cave. The women disguised themselves as men and all positioned themselves at the mouth of the cave in an attempt to intimidate the Wasamo attackers into thinking they had twice as many soldiers as they really did. To this day, the Wagimbe still visit the cave to thank and invoke their ancestors for success in their various endeavours.
From 1800 onwards, Luo fishermen arrived on the island and gradually Suba traditions faded away, with mixed marriages. Thus even the dialect, which is very different from the Luo dialect, is being lost, although a few traditional festivals and a Suba culture festival in December remain, which they would now like to revive.