Category: Coast
-
Manda Bay: Of Beaches, Buffaloes and Bee-Eaters
We banked steeply out of Malindi Airport and headed north along the concave stretch of coast towards Lamu. Above Kipini the Tana River seeped chocolate-brown streaks into the ocean, swirling with shades of deep blue in the currents. There were only a handful of passengers on the plane as we had predicted. Among them, coincidentally, […]
-
Camping Wild in the Aberdares
We followed a dusty two-track in the forested salient of the Aberdares. Thick patches of striking purple Vernonia shrubs bulged into the road, and twisted white tree trunks punctuated a sea of deep green on the hillsides. We rounded a bend, and a mud-coated buffalo lay in our path, unperturbed. A large male leopard suddenly […]
-
Up in the Sand Dunes of the Tana River Delta
As Kenya develops, and its population grows, it has become harder to find places that feel truly remote. It doesn’t take much to spoil the impression of isolation: a communication tower on the horizon, say, or the faint drone of distant traffic. So it’s a lot more special on those few occasions when I do […]
-
Local Ocean Conservation: Protecting Sea Turtles in Watamu
A young Hawksbill turtle was presented to us in an old green bucket, by a group of fishermen in the north of Watamu. The turtle had been caught up in their net as ‘bycatch’ – when non-target species are accidentally captured in fishing gear. I was with Kahindi Changawa and his team from Local Ocean […]
-
Sunset Sail Around Lamu Island
It has been a lot easier, of late, to justify our trips out of Nairobi. The days have been cold, and the politics has been draining. So when the election was first re-scheduled around the long Mashujaa Day weekend, my girlfriend and I seized the opportunity and booked a trip to Lamu. Few places in […]
-
Fatuma’s Tower: Up in the Dunes of Shela
With its narrow, donkey-trodden alleyways, carved wooden doors, wailing muezzins and rolling sand dunes, Lamu island truly is a world apart from the likes of Malindi and Mombasa further down the coast. The island’s charm has been tested numerous times, though, since it first established itself as a tourist destination in the 1960s. As celebrities […]
-
A Weekend of Breaks at Diani Beach
After assignments in Darfur and Mogadishu I needed a break. For the first time in a long time I booked myself a weekend at the Coast – at the splendid Jacaranda Indian Ocean Beach Resort. I also needed a bit of therapy. On the Thursday evening I had gone to sleep a European; early on […]
-
Shambani: Easter at the South Coast
In light of the various incidents of insecurity recently, it’s hardly surprising that many Kenyans favoured the beaches of Lake Victoria over those of the Coast. Hotels in western Kenya registered record high levels of bookings during the Easter period as people shunned Nairobi and Mombasa to explore or visit family around Kisumu or Eldoret. […]
-
Why aren’t more Kenyans going to Southeast Asia?
With its enticing mix of rainforest-clad islands, vast stretches of white sandy beaches, bustling capital cities and finely preserved ruins and temples, it is no surprise that tourists in their thousands flock to Southeast Asia. Every year a ceaseless mass of people travel to the likes of Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Indonesia, and even the […]
Going Places Africa 