Chillaxing in Mombasa

The weekend has been spent at Mombasa with Anssi and Marja, the retiring director of the LHF and his wife. For those who don't know about Mombasa, it used to be the old British administrative centre before Nairobi was built in the hills, and has Swahili, Portugese and Arabic influences. We stayed in the Hotel Serena in Mombasa (owned by the Aga Kahn).

On Friday morning we flew to Mombasa, which was an experience in itself, or at least the landing was. I have never heard a plane with such squeaky brakes and they had to work very hard to stop the plane from going off the end of the runway. From the plane we also got our first glimpse of Mount Kilimanjaro, maybe we will have to climb it next year.

We were picked up at the airport by the hotel shuttle service and whisked to our abode, where we received drinks and a cold flannel (which was already welcome, Mombasa is considerably hotter and more humid than Nairobi) before being shown to our rooms. The Serena beach hotel was rather fabulous. Designed to be like the historic lamu town, it is a tranquil maze of paths and two storey houses set on the beach front. From our house you could see the sea.

We then had lunch, which consisted of a vast array of salads, and then hot food.  We stuffed ourselves, a pattern which was to continue through the weekend (breakfast and dinner turned out to be equally awe inspiring). Replete, we went for swims in both the hotel pool and the sea. Mombasa has an reef around 500m offshore, and so the sea is shallow and actually gets bathwater hot under the sun, which is a most discombobulating sensation.

We also went for a short walk along the beach, where we were followed by beach boys wanting us to go for boat rides or trying to sell us souvenirs. The amazing thing is that you build up a queue of beach boys each craving your attention. When you finally get rid of one man, 'We do not want to go on a boat ride, we are not interested', the next bloke, who has been listening the whole time will say 'I have very cheap boat rides...'. Argh. To echo the old Confederate plea, for which we now have considerably greater sympathy, "all we ask is to be let alone''.

Although, it must be said, we enjoyed three boat trips over the weekend, organised by the indomitable Anssi who speaks Swahili and so can negotiate with the beach boys to get a good price, all in lateen rigged boats or trimarans, otherwise known as dhows.

The first was with some 'Rastas', who took us to a Mangrove swamp and the reef. On the way a rather pitiful story was told of how they had to start fishing to support their families when they were 7, and as a result didn't get an education and were stuck at the beach, with no other options open to them. Once there, Rasta no. 2 was stung by a firefish and decided he needed to go to hospital for a 'shot'. Everything here can be cured by a 'shot' or quick injection. It turns out that you can get an injection to protect you from the changes in climate. We probably should of had that jab before we came to Mombasa as it is so hot here. Anyway Rasta no. 1 thought this was hilarious, and so we carried on.  They told us that they had asked the fishermen what had happened and that the reply was that Rasta 2 would be fine. Had he really been fishing from the age of 7!

The second was a pure sail, with the Union Jack and the Jamican national flag steaming in the breeze, again one suspects Rastas.  There is something very peaceful about sailing along in the wind, when all you can hear is the crashing of the waves. On the third trip we went snorkelling, which was quite an experience. I think learning to dive should be squeezed in somewhere on our year off as it was fantastic. Not all the funky wildlife was below the waves however as we had monkeys in the hotel which ate the rubbish, weaver birds making their nests within touching distance, and plenty of crows which ate the weaver birds (sob). The dining rooms were also open and had birds continously visiting.

Sadly the time past too quickly and before we knew it we had to leave Mombasa. But I think we will be back very shortly. We are now back in Nairobi, enjoying a respite from the sun (and sunburn).