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After Christmas it rained very hard and unusually so for this time of year in Nairobi, to the extent that my garden was totally flooded the day before I went to coast (see photo); and strangely when there is that much rain I was yet again without water. I therefore decided to stay over at Cat's so I could have a decent shower and it made it easier when leaving from there for the long car journey the next day. (All previous times I have flown to the coast (about an hour) or taken the overnight train (14 hours) so was interested to know how it would be to drive (it took 11 hours there and 9 hours on the way back…).
We were due to leave at 7am, with Jimmy picking us up. It ended up being 9am (that's Kenyan time for you) but understandably as Jimmy had driven down form the Mount Kenya region a couple of hours away (and then continued to drive the full way to Diani with the aid of several red bulls - I lost count.)
So the four of us set off in his car, and I was soon impressed with Jimmy's driving skills. Cautious when he needed to be, not stupidly fast but also willing to over take. All a necessity for the road trip we were taking on the notorious Nairobi to Mombasa road. The single carriageway road is packed with over weight trucks loaded with goods and containers from the Mombasa port, one of the busiest in Africa and taking their goods through Kenya to countries further north - Ethiopia, Rwanda, Burundi, DRC etc. In addition of course there are many buses - the medium sized long distance ones, the small and cramped matatus and the larger more luxurious (well in comparison) coaches that typically go over night from Nairobi to coast. (I had planned to experience this cheaper form of travel to the coast until I faced this crazy road and now I am not sure I would want to be on this road at night with reckless bus drivers).
We stopped twice, first time for a very quick bite to eat - chicken and chips Kenyan BBQ style and then for a fuel and loo break for those that needed it (Cat and I didn't - see later…). Considering the road was quite busy and we left a bit later than planned we made quite good progress. However, about 5 hours in, we hit a massive storm, thunder and lightening all around and a torrential downpour for about 2 hours where we sensibly crawled along with hazards on and virtually zero visibility (see photos and video!). Eventually it started to clear as we approached the outskirts of Mombasa town, but it was then after 5pm so we started hitting traffic and the frequency of the ferries seriously reduces after 5. So another two hours in a queue across Mombasa town to wait for the ferry to get across from the island to the south coast road - a mad way for the roads to be structured. Plenty of I spy together with us girls desperate for the loo - why didn't we go at the last stop? As we moved slowly in the queue with the ferry in sight - we decided we just had to go. It was dark now, so we quickly sprayed mosquito repellent and stepped out in the humid, hot evening very different to Nairobi weather. We asked about three people if there were toilets only to be directed to different places, but we were ok, the line of cars were still not moving. Eventually pleading with some policemen, one of them could tell these Mzungu girls were desperate so took pity on us and with gun in hand we were accompanied across the road to the police compound. He unlocked the padlock and directed us to the one toilet at the back of the compound - a massive relief but out of the corner of our eye the line of cars was beginning to move (why does it always seems to take longer when squatting - maybe too much information). We rushed out - a man shouting after us holding a bottle of water out to wash our hands with (very kind) - we ran to the cars to find ours was already on the ferry and we were asked to wait with the hundreds of pedestrians. Ferries are packed and pedestrians go free - so are jam-packed in all around the cars. Eventually hot and sweating, we were fortunately allowed on and managed to find the others and the car - phew!
Once across we sped along and soon were in Diani, found our cottage - Malaika villas. Very adequate - spacious but pricey (the prices almost double over the New Year season). We requested mosquito nets and fans - definitely needed and had a wonderful cold shower before heading out to THE bar - Forty Thieves.
Forty Thieves is a great bar on the beach - bands and DJs play and there is a great atmosphere as well as the amazing calamari we ordered - grilled and fried very fresh, tasty and all in all very delicious. It was Friday night and the place was packed with very young 16-ish school kids dressed in their beach ware. No doubt at that age a great thing to be meeting up with all your school friends - oh to be that age (well maybe not…)! We had a great night, and Cat and I left first in a taxi as the boys continued to party until the early hours - they kept bumping into all their mates who had headed down to the coast for New Year. In Kenya, it seems very acceptable to drink and drive. I really don't feel comfortable with it but no one seems to blink an eye. I don't very often get in a car with a driver who has been drinking as I usually get taxis, but it does happen and scarily you start to accept it. Very worrying.
The next day, after heading out for breakfast (and experiencing what seems to be endemic poor service at the south coast) and buying provisions for the 5 days, we explored the beautiful sandy stretch of beach. Diani has white sands for over 25km. The parallel road is known for its Colobus monkeys (not that I saw any), and there are ladder ropes across the road at tree height to allow the to cross without getting run over - I'd love to see that! Cat and I went for a walk, fending off the beach boys and trying to get around a cove as the tide was coming in. We sensibly stopped when two girls came round the corner saying they had to swim the last bit - not the best idea with our cameras so we headed back to a kite surfing school where we ordered cocktails- it was happy hour after all. That evening, the four of us went to a pasta place that had quite a good reputation as Cat had a real urge for seafood pasta. We waited well over an hour for our food, and when it arrived, one of the starters was missing the tuna, the pasta was disgusting and my fish overcooked and dry. We called the waitress over who said nothing so we asked to speak to the Italian manager who had been barking orders out to his staff in Italian all evening, We started to say we were disappointed and he just interrupted us, shooed us away with his hands and told us to just go! By this time it was 10pm, we were starving so we promptly left, headed back to Forty Thieves for a re-run of calamari! I must remember to write that trip advisor comment about the pasta place!
Spontaneously (getting better at being spontaneous!) the next day we spent a day with some other friends from Nairobi and some of their friends with a vague plan to go across to an island called Wasini lsland just knowing we had to head down the coast towards Tanzania to the village of Shimoni where boats leave for the island. This took about an hour on some rough road, and as we got to the village we passed someone who had come from the island, who said there was no food or drink there, so we quickly stopped at what we thought was the last stop to stock up on water and food. I think we made the shop keepers day - buying all her mangoes, coconuts and water and was about to buy some bread (there wasn't really anything else), when a lady appeared with some Mendazis (Kenyan donuts) so we bought a huge bag full at 5c each and started to stuff our faces. Meanwhile, we also realized that one of our tires was flat so in the heat of the day, Faraaz and Pontus took the tire off and it went down to the village mechanic to be blown up. We eventually got on a small boat and went to the island, to arrive at a restaurant serving fish and drinks! So no idea why we were told there was nothing available (but I do think you were supposed to have pre-booked it and therefore we sort of gate crashed). Some of the group had lunch and then we were told as the tide was coming in, if we wanted to go to the nearest beach we would then be cut off for several hours until the tide went out - didn't seem the most sensible idea. So instead one of the girls with us new someone staying in small banda nearby. We walked there and found two very simple bandas with no running water or much of anything where 5 people were staying over new year. It felt very remote as you could not escape when there was high tide other than by swimming - but looked a fantastic totally isolated simple place to stay for a couple of nights. We arranged to have a sailboat pick us up and take us out for a sail and snorkel and then drop a back to the mainland. The dhow was beautiful and we had a really relaxing sail and then jumped into the warm ocean to snorkel allowing me to try out my new dive mask and fins, which were great. Snorkeling was not that great but it was wonderful being in the warm sea.
I managed to swim everyday in the pool, increasing my lengths by 10 each day before anyone else got up (the advantage of being the oldest and light weight going to bed first most days). The beach near by was perfect for kite surfing, which was great to watch - the kites so magnificent and brightly coloured pulling the person really fast across the waves - very tempting to try it one day but somehow I don't think I will be very good at it.
Other than Jimmy, the rest of use decided not to do the rave on the beach with the 3000 other people but instead joined our friends for truly delicious BBQ - dorado, paella (two of the girls were Spanish) and prawns and a fun night playing UNO!! At midnight, the others all jumped in the pool! At about 2 we got into the car to head back (just 5 mins down the road) to find the car had a flat battery. So luckily the others had jump leads and we tried jump starting with no luck - the next day we realized that the connection of one of the batteries had popped out but we couldn't see this at night. So we eventually got a lift home. Not a great start to 2013 but no harm done.
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