Chief Kivoi Mwendwa (born in the 1700s) was a Kamba long-distance trader who lived in the present day Kitui.

[1] Kivoi met the two Europeans in Mombasa and traveled with them to Ukambani where, on 3 December 1849, they became the first white people to see Mount Kenya.

According to Ludwig Krapf, Kivoi and his immediate followers were killed after their caravan was attacked by robbers in the second expedition in Tana River 2 miles from Yatta.

The greater part of the caravan was instantly dispersed, Kivoi's people flying in all directions; Kivoi himself was killed with his immediate followers; Krapf fired his gun twice, but into the air, 'for', said he, 'I could not bring myself to shed the blood of man'; and then he found himself in the bash, separated from both friend and foe, and flying in what he supposed to be the best direction."

His perils were now greater than before, as he was in an inhabited country, and feared to travel by day lest he should be detected and murdered, while at night he frequently missed his way, and in the dense darkness of the forests his compass was of little use.