Southern Coast Beach Holiday

Happy Holidays from Kris, Ken, and Claire in Kenya! We spent Christmas on the southern coast and will be in Kasigau by New Years Eve, with a few days in Nairobi in the interim.

We've returned to Nairobi from a visit to the Southern Coast of Kenya, touring different places from south of the port city Mombasa to theTanzanian border.

We began this trip with an all-day drive from Nairobi to beautiful Tiwi Beach, where the five of us (Ken, Claire, David, John, and myself) shared a lovely banda above the Indian Ocean.

The banda was a treat for us all because we shopped in markets along the way and cooked for ourselves, washed laundry, and generally lived a relaxing few days on the beach with only day trips out into the tourist world.

One of the high points here was the twice daily troop of monkeys coming through, entertaining us with their antics (which included concerted and successful efforts to steal food). I estimated 30+ monkeys cruising around the grounds, mothers with babies clutching upside down on their stomachs, fathers leading and watching over the troop, and youngsters who were the most

aggressive on stealing food. The monkeys look and act so much like people that is impossible to watch them without making up stories about their lives.

The beach itself has very unusual undercut rock formations from the wave action, and fisherman who come by selling the daily catch. It made for a beautiful and every-changing environment and we spent much of our time exploring and combing the beach. My sister Gail would have loved it!

We visited Kongo Mosque, the oldest mosque in Africa, constructed of coral and right on the beach. The mosque beach is close to Diani Beach, the largest package tour beach in Kenya, but at the same time quite isolated, quiet, and free from commercial influences of large hotels and resorts. We were there on Christmas Eve and again in the evening of Christmas Day, with a large number of Christian Kenyans who appreciated the quiet ambience.

The coastal province here is predominantly Muslim, but also the prime holiday travel destination for the majority Christian population from "upcountry" in Kenya, which made for a very intriguing holiday away from home.

Mombasa City is an island, requiring a ferry ride to get from the beaches to the sights in town. Usually the crossing is quick, but for some reason there was a two hour wait the day our group chose to go. Hot and sweaty tourists!

Mombasa is the heartland of Swahili culture and has an interesting and convoluted history, alternately ruled and influenced by Portugal, Arabs, and a number of different east African tribes. Foods especially fruit and fish and nuts, are plentiful, music is everywhere, people are diverse and happy, and in general the atmosphere of Mombasa at the holidays is one big relaxed party.

Photos here of Fort Jesus and the old town show the architecture and the lay of the land around and within the fort.

We spent Christmas Day on the water, taking a snorkeling trip to a marine reserve.

The fish were plentiful, beautiful, and interesting and made me wish I had an underwater camera and the know-how to use it.

We rode in a dhow boat (ours had a motor for faster transport) with a diverse group of about 25 people and had lunch on Wasini Island, fish of course. Yummy.

On Wasini Island also there is a "coral garden" with a boardwalk through coral rock and mangrove forest. The site is covered in sea water at high tide each month.

It is impressive how similar tropical fishing life is to fishing lifestyles in the Pacific Northwest and SE Alaska, and also how different.

Next we will be in Nairobi for a few days and then on to Kasigau at last.

We are all ready for our homecoming in Bungule and respite from the weariness of being tourists in Kenya.

Bye for now

Kris