Mombasa & the Coast of Kenya

Masai dwelling

Wood carvings of Masai women

A couple days of tents and bush and I thought it would be good to head toward the coastal region of Kenya to chill out. The original plan was to spend a night in Mombasa and then proceed north along the coast to the medieval city of Lamu.

I had arranged for a van and a driver for the next 6 days since it made financial sense and would be far more comfortable rather than traveling by local transport and renting a taxi whichever place we went. The size of the group and the large spread of the age range within the group made the decision all the more easier. Had I been by myself, mostly certainly I would have traveled by local transport as I consider it the best way to interact with the locals.

Masai warrior shields made of cow hide


The road from Nairobi to Mombasa was a very good sealed road but stretching more than 500kms which meant that we would be on the road for almost the whole day. An interesting facet of this road is the fact that it passes through the biggest National Park in Kenya; Tsavo National Park which is close to 20,000 sq. kms. Infact, due to the road cutting through it, the park is now subdivided into two, the East and the West Tsavo National Park.

"Dusty waterhole" - There is an unsustainable demand on land and water from Kenya's increasing human and cattle population. I wonder how it will impact the wildlife

Route from Nairobi to Mombasa passing through the two Tsavo parks

Even though the park is bigger and wilder than Masai Mara, I had read that animals are a lot more difficult to spot due to its higher undergrowth. I would have been perfectly fine with visiting this park though I was not sure if the family would appreciate it the same way as I did as coming so soon on the heels after the Mara. I wondered if they would have thought of it as a poorer cousin of the Masai Mara and probably would have been a slight let down.

Tsavo's Zebras


This park is notorious for its two man-eaters that prowled this jungle in late 19th century as Indian, British and Native Africans worked on the Kenya-Uganda railways in the colonial times. This was the time when Kenya was called as British East Africa. There are a lot of theories as to why these lions killed and ate more than a 100 humans and as of today its still being debated along with the total that were killed.



Minivans or Matatu as they are called in Kenya



Parents with my nephew



Notwithstanding the various theories, I must admit that the movie based on these lions (The Ghost and The Darkness) was hugely impressive. As I gazed at the rail track running parallel to the road, I could vaguely imagine a scene where workers (some of them who came all the way from India to perish here) toiling during the day and sleept with the fear of these lions at night.

View from Fort

The park at Tsavo was strikingly similar to the Hlane National Park in Swaziland that I visited in 2010. The soil was dusty reddish in color and the vegetation was made up of dry scrubs unlike the Mara which was dominated by grass. Just as I was reminiscing Swaziland, an animal passed us and suddenly somebody in the van shouted Zebra!!!. I thought I had seen something like that but still I was a little nonplussed, here we are zipping along on a road that looks like an interstate with a fair amount of traffic and there was a Zebra foraging right by it. Well…I guess this was Kenya.


Interior of Fort Jesus



Fort Jesus exterior

A little later we came across another group of Zebras and it was a good time to click some photos and stretch the legs. The soil was so dusty that the Zebra’s has a reddish tinge to their coat making their stripes less striking than usual.

Street in Mombasa old town

Swahili kids in Mombasa's old town. My nephew blends fairly
well among them

We got in to Mombasa later in the evening and check into a cute little vacation home north from Mombasa. The family was absolutely thrilled with it and my sister went on a photo clicking binge…perhaps her being an interior designer has something to do with it.


Mombasa old port

Walking in Mombasa old town

The next morning a quick dip in the pool and breakfast later we set out to explore Mombasa. First stop was the impressive Fort Jesus that was built by the Portuguese in the 15th century but then over the next few centuries passed through the hands of the Omani Arabs and then the British. The reason for the construction of the fort and the several takeover is evident looking at the strategic location of Mombasa. It sits on a small island off the mainland and was an ideal location for a port to haul the riches from Africa’s interior to the world in days gone by. Today its still a very important port for shipping of goods to and fro for Kenya and the landlocked nations of Uganda and Rwanda.

The coast of Kenya is dominated by Swahili culture which is distinct from the ones in the interior of Kenya but shared commonly with the people along the eastern coast of Africa from Somalia to the northern fringes of Mozambique and including the islands of Comoros. Having visited the tiny island nation a couple year ago I could recall a few similarities although the architecture in Mombasa seemed to have some Indian influence mixed in with the predominant Arab one on Comoros. Swahili is an interesting mix of Arabic and African culture and it’s easy to see that in their shared faith, food and clothing.

Our Swahili guide

A cargo ship approaching the Mombasa Port

Later we walked around the old town of Mombasa with its small Arab styled alleyways and houses with outward facing balconies. While we were walking around, a denizen of Mombasa pulled his car window down and asked me to be careful and warned that there was trouble brewing in Mombasa.

I was to learn later that the chaos was because the previous night a local cleric called Sheikh Aboud Rogo was shot dead by unidentified assailants. He was evidently facing terror charges and was alleged to have links with Somalia’s Al Shabaab and Al Qaeda groups. The rumor mills doing the rounds on the street was that he was a potential threat to the integrity of Kenya and hence it were the government forces that executed him in the guise of unidentified gunmen.

Cops on the streets of Mombasa

Headline on Kenya's leading newspaper on
the situation in Mombasa

Rolling chapattis with
whiskey bottle

Though things looked calm around Mombasa while we were there, there was some tension in the air so we got back to the comfort of our vacation home not soon thereafter. We stopped by a Tusky supermarket to pick up stuff for a delicious Indian meal of minced lamb and chapattis rolled interestingly with a J&B whiskey bottle :)