Kenyan coast

After leaving the Masai Mara, I decided to do the traditional Kenyan ‘Safari and Beach’ holiday and so made my way towards the coast. I had to go via Nairobi which I wasn’t really looking forward to. It doesn’t have the best reputation. Six years ago, when I was last there, two of the three other people that I climbed Kilimanjaro with were robbed during their stopover in Nairobi. I also remember being endlessly hassled by touts and beggars. So it came as something of a surprise that I was able to walk around for two days without a single person hassling me. And nor have I heard of any crime. Nairobi must have cleaned up its act a bit. Either that or I’ve contracted leprosy somewhere on my travels.

The first stop on the coast was in Mombasa which isn’t much to write home about. I met up with a guy called Mark from London and a girl called Adriana from Bilbao and we all headed north up the coast. We stopped over in Malindi on the way which is a bizarre holiday resort chock-a-block full of Italians. It’s cliche, but it was great to be able to get some decent pasta and pizza.

After Malindi, we headed on to Lamu which is the highlight on the coastline. Lamu is Kenya’s version of Zanzibar or Ilha de Mozambique. It’s an island that was colonised early on and used as a trading port by the Arabs, Portuguese and Omanis. It has amazing buildings, lots of tiny shops and alley ways to explore and a much stronger sense of culture and identity than I’ve found elsewhere.  The three of us went on a Dhow trip around some of the islands and met up with two Irish girls, two English girls and a Canadian couple. The nine of us comprised almost all of the tourists on the island and so kept bumping into each other for drinks and meals. For one meal we were entertained by a one eyed albino man playing the bongos. That was interesting!

Tragically during the three days that we were there, the news was being filled up by one disaster after another. First a ferry boat in Zanzibar capsized and nearly two hundred people drowned. Then a British guy was shot and his wife kidnapped just south of the Somalian border. And then a fire broke out at a petrol pipe in Nairobi killing over 100 people. Hopefully bad news does only strike in threes and that’s the end of it.

Yesterday, Flash Mark opted for a flight to Nairobi leaving me and Adriana to brave the 18hr bus journey back to the capital. I’m only here for about twelve hours before I go to Addis. My idea of going overland has been kiboshed because unlike everywhere else I cannot get a visa for Ethiopia at the land border as they only give them out at the airport.

I can tell that I’m getting near to the end of my trip because London Calling by The Clash is starting to move up the most played songs on my ipod. Not long now. See you next month!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FOR TOMORROW FRAN :) xx