Kenya Episode 3

Wednesday 27th June

We left at 8am in heavy grey skies but luckily we were planning a day of traveling. Before leaving Shimoni we went to the fish market to buy a fresh snapper for dinner. Then, we went to Fikirini Caves, 3 giant caves just about 5kms from Shimoni as the crow flies although we had to go 6kms and then 8kms to get to them. Local people mobbed us – about 30 of them – but finally we settled on 3 guides to show us the caves. They were quite extensive and one had a fresh water spring in it. Apparently, in years gone by, the local villagers would hide in the caves in times of war. After our guided tour where once again, we saw 1000’s of fruit bats, we had toast and coffee for breakfast and then headed back on the road up north towards Mombasa. A short way up the road, we turned down to the coast again to see Funzi Island. A very enthusiastic local on a bicycle roared ahead of us down the road determined to be our guide. Every now and then he would disappear only to re appear again having taken a short cut! We reached the shore and he was there eagerly offering to take us to Funzi by dhow although we had told him in the beginning that we were only going to look at it from the mainland. To appease him, we said we wanted to buy mangrove crabs so that was his next mission – he jumped on his bicycle and lead us back to the village where he beaconed for Ingrid & I to follow him. We marched off through the huts until we came across one which he proclaimed to be the fisherman’s – sure enough, out came the fisherman with a sack of huge mangrove crabs alive and kicking! We duly bought 3 monsters for R25 and headed back to our waiting husbands with our crabs in a paper sugar bag to be stored at my feet! Our guide abandoned his bicycle and requested a lift back to his office (the roadside hut where we had turned off), so he jumped on to the running board on Dave’s side and off we went.

We got back to Diani town and bought bread and beers and visited the internet café to update our web. Then we made our way to Tiwi Beach and Twiga Campsite – what a beautiful beach with waves breaking out on the backline and grassed camp sites right on the beach – paradise. We set up camp with our awnings just touching, Will filleted the snapper for our dinner and Dave & I boiled the crabs – what a mission to get the crab meat out! It’s far easier to order seafood chowder in a restaurant! Anyway, it’s all part of the adventure. We were just sitting down to have a drink when a young American, Benjamin, came up to us, explaining that he and his 2 friends had food but no pots and no cooking apparatus! So could they please join us for dinner? A fun evening with Ben, Julie and Terra followed with lots of chatting and laughter and we only went to bed close to 11pm.


Thursday 28th June

A long walk along the beach from one end to the other and then a gourmet breakfast started off the most idyllic day. Then it was time to do a big laundry session – sheets, duvet covers, towels and dish cloths – we even took out our mattress and aired it! It is spring tides at the moment so when we had walked earlier, the tide was far out and we had walked right out to the coral reef, now it was high tide and there was deep water right on our door step, so I had a lovely, long swim bobbing in the waves – I really missed you, Rayanne! In fact I have been a little homesick again today – my thoughts are with my Mom, who is flying overseas tonight – you will go right over us, Mom, so blow us a kiss ok? I miss talking to my kids SO much, like yesterday with Carmen-Jo, sms messages are just not the same. Family and friends certainly make life meaningful and we are missing you all a ton!
Dave is very busy now making our sea food chowder – boiling the snapper bones to get the fish stock, chopping ginger & garlic, onions & tomatoe, then he will add the crab meat, prawns and mussels – dinner will be good tonight! Another fellow camper, Yehuda Elmalia, has joined us, he is a Dutchman but born a Moroccan Jew! Once more we chat and exchange ideas. He has given us his contact details in Netherlands so Dave & I might see him in November.
We had planned to move to a beach north of Mombasa tomorrow but we have just had a sms from the Kargs to say that they and the Days will meet us here tomorrow, so we will spend another day here – it is so beautiful that we don’t mind.


Friday 29th June

We got up, had coffee and packed up. Yehuda also packed up his tent as we were going to give him a lift to Diani after he had shown us the bottle store where he bought his wine, which we had slotted last night! In Diani we bought wine and bread, bade farewell to Uda and visited the internet café before coming back to our campsite to wait for our fellow travelers. They arrived at lunch time and told us all their woes – Brian had had to replace his whole clutch, power steering pump, bearing on his fan belt tensioner and his alternator plus his windscreen surround had cracked and had had to be reinforced! Neville’s rear prop shaft universal had to be replaced. So that is why we had such a long wait for them! Anyway, we are relaxed and tanned and hopefully we can move on tomorrow. The weather is sunny although a bit windy and we are loving swimming in the sea. Tonight we are having prawns for starters then fresh fish and chips – we bought a 6kg fish this morning and Dave & Will filleted it so it should be delicious.


Saturday 30th June

The others need to recharge their batteries so we are spending one more day here at Tiwi Beach, but it is such an idyllic spot that we don’t mind. After early morning coffee, Dave and I took a long walk along the beach to Diani Beach and back again – it is spring low tide so it goes right out. Then we came back for yogurt and toast before relaxing on the beach. There is a traveling fruit & veg man on a bicycle, called Mr Mango Man, and he pays us a daily visit to see what we need, and there are fish salesmen who also visit us daily to sell us fresh fish and prawns! Really, we could stay here for a month!! Tonight the Hardmans and us are going to make chicken & prawn curry. In the afternoon the tide comes in, and there is really lovely swimming right in front of our camp.
We have just had Eddie, the man who sells us coconuts, give us an a-z demonstration of coconut milk production – he started by climbing a 25 metre high coconut palm to pick them, de-pulped them, cracked them with a panga, grated them on a grating stool and then washed the fresh pulp with water through a reed sieve. Carmen-Jo, you would have loved it – we are going to buy you a grating stool – no more tinned coconut milk for your cooking!

After dinner Brian was walking between our campsites and he saw something in the grass! Well, that started the night game hunting – there we were with the torch hunting in the bushes – and we found white bellied hedgehogs, cute little things that are apparently quite common in Tiwi Beach according to the night watchman, and lots of coconut crabs attacking the left over coconut from us. Ingrid, Will and I had attempted a night hunt at Harm’s house in Shimoni as he had told us that there were elephant shrews, but on that occasion we were not successful. But now we have decided that night hunts are fun.

My brother, Trevor, is plotting our trip and I promised to give him GPS co ordinates, so from now on I will periodically give them. Tiwi Beach S 04”14.465’ E 039”36.172’


Sunday 1st July

We left at 8.30am and headed N – I am so excited as from now on we will be going N and that means I will be getting nearer home! We crossed with the ferry onto Mombasa and the city was much quieter as it was a Sunday. After stocking up at the supermarket we headed up the north coast and up to Kilifi which is a beautiful coastal town on a river estuary. There is absolutely no camping available and we are once again camped in a hotel parking lot using one room as an ablution.


Monday 2nd July

After drawing money at the ATM we went to look at the Mnarani Ruins on a steep cliff on the southern bank of the Kilifi Creek. It is not known for definite but it is speculated that the Swahili founded this site in the early 13th century and there was a settlement here until the late 16th century. The Great Mosque is interesting in that it’s Mihrab, which always faces Mecca, has multiple arches and is full of Arabic inscriptions. In Kenya, we are still faced with this annoying custom of charging foreign visitors 5x and more, the price that they charge locals, to enter points of interest. Dave, Will & I refused to pay to go in because of this, but after I stood chatting to the curator, he sent me in at no charge, with my own private guide as he wanted me to write about his site on our blogspot – perhaps we should always tell the people we are running a web page! From the Mnarani site there was a spectacular view of the Kilifi Creek and the Kilifi Bridge which was completed in 1984.
We then left Kilifi and traveled up to Watamu. Once again we battled to find a campsite but eventually we met a very friendly Brit, Helen, who allowed us to camp on the volley ball court at Ocean Sports Hotel, as they are actually closed to hotel guests at the moment as they are doing major renovations. It is a super campsite, lawned and right on the beach & she has given us the use of one room for a shower and toilet. Best of all, she informed us this afternoon, that there is a wireless access to the internet in the bar area. So we are going to brave the painters and carpenters etc to go and sit amongst them and connect to the internet.
Dave stopped taking Doxycycline, the anti malarial, about 10 days ago, as his skin was becoming ultra sensitive so he is taking extra care to apply mosquito repellant. Otherwise we are both exceedingly well!


Tuesday 3rd July

The wind blew all night last night and we have woken up to rain and grey skies – hopefully it will clear soon. It did clear at about 9am and so we took a long walk in a northerly direction up the beach. The bay we are in is called Turtle Bay and with these monsoon winds it is full of sea weed. We walked around to Blue Bay which is sheltered and the beach is completely clear of seaweed. The rock formations and islands sticking out of the sea are amazing. On our return we visited the fishing tackle shop at the hotel – it is not really open – he was taking stock – but he was very happy for us to look around. His stock is amazing and you would have loved to go wild in there Daryl, although everything is marked in US dollars! Willy did say that the prices were not over the top though.
The weather has deteriorated once again and we have all made the decision to move on tomorrow – I am thrilled as we have been going very slowly lately. Daryl suggested that we go on Skype tonight, so we are looking forward to that before we head off north.

Well, before and after dinner we sat glued to our computer talking to our kids on Skype – we could hear them talking but we had to type to them, as we never had a microphone headset. At first they were hesitant talking to a computer that wasn’t talking back, but soon they gabbled on and I typed as fast as my little fingers could go. It was wonderful to chat to them all – Mike & Dono too, so we were really spoilt! Dave also set it up for Ingrid, and CJ invited Ian (their son) around to our house and Ingrid & Will chatted to Ian and their other son, Gareth in London. Ingrid and I are very happy Moms now! Eventually, Dave got tired and came back to the campsite to clear up and then he had to come and haul me away from the computer at bed time. Thank you, Daryl for suggesting it – I feel so happy that I have been able to connect with you all. We love you all so much – you are the core of our existence.

Watamu S 03”21.629’ E 040”00.525’

Tomorrow we plan to travel up to the mainland near Lamu Island and then go over to Lamu for a day or two. It is very likely that we will not have cell signal there but I am hoping that we will.
Chatting to our kids last night, they asked for more photos, so seeing as we have this wireless connection we are dumping more photos to the web this time and they are full size. We have also been compiling an album called, ‘Bicycles of Africa’ so we thought this would be of interest as our kids are doing lots of cycling at the moment. We are sure they are not utilizing their bikes to the fullest though!!!