Tag: Coast
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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, […]
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Diani by Night: Of Roadside Bars and a Beach House
‘Wewe ni Jan?’, our Uber driver asked, as we approached his tinted Toyota Corolla. My friend and I had a plane to catch to Diani, where we had organised an eventful weekend for my Stag Do. As my friend was clambering into the backseat, the car began to move, knocking him to the ground and […]
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The Peace Hotel and the Changing Face of Mogadishu
‘You will see some changes,’ Bashir said. Bashir owns the Peace Hotel in Mogadishu. He was welcoming me there for… it must have been for the fifth or sixth time. He joined me for a coffee in the hotel’s leafy garden café. I like Bashir. I like his energy and his optimism. I appreciate his […]
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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 […]
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The World Turned Upside Down
I am writing this mid-day on New Year’s Eve – the strangest and most anxious New Year’s Eve I’ve ever spent. I am hearing gunshots in nearby Kawangware and, of course, wondering what will happen in Uhuru Park in an hour or so, and asking whether any of the many dire sms rumours I have […]
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Christmas in Korogocho
The Editor has asked me to weave a Christmas theme into this Going Places. Should be easy – because Christmas is all around us these days, isn’t it? What with the fairy lights cascading down the shopping malls, the carols, the office parties…. But whose Christmas? For me, I will be joining the Nairobi exodus […]
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