African Adventures

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Our first stop on Mainland Africa was Mombasa in Kenya. That marked the 95th country I have visited. We had an overnight stay here to allow some passengers to go to a Safari park. We stayed in the city. On the first morning we went on a ship tour to see some of the sights of the city. Mombasa is the second largest city in Kenya and Fletcher says it is much like Nairobi except for the number of tuk-tuks in the streets.
Our first stop was on the main road to view the large crossed tusks which is the symbol of the city. Then we were taken to a local Hindu temple. There is a very large Indian population here. This temple had some very gruesome paintings on the walls depicting the horrible punishments which await sinners!! Then we were driven to the outskirts to visit a wood carving cooperative. The workers each had their separate huts where they worked with a variety of wood. Some made very large carvings while others dealt with smaller subjects. I bought a lovely wooden bowl there, decorated with giraffes.
It was getting very hot as we were driven to our next stop. This was at Fort Jesus, built by the Portuguese, to protect the harbour in the 17th century. We saw the cannons overlooking the harbour. We went into some of the buildings. The fort was taken over by the Omanis in the 19th century and there are some magnificent Arab doorways still in place. The museum also has some Arab artefacts as well as paintings of ships and other buildings uncovered on the walls when it was excavated. We went to a small Cafe and were given a soft drink but they were in the sun and warm fanta is not very refreshing. When we went out into the courtyard a large group of school girls cheered us and waved!! They were gorgeous!!
From there we did a walking tour of the Old Town. This was an interesting area. We saw the oldest hotel in Kenya, an old mosque, the harbour as well as being taken to a couple of souvenir shops!! The buildings were in need of some paint but showed the architecture of the time. Then it was back to the ship, hot and tired from all the walking!
Although we stayed in Mombasa for a second day we stayed on board as the temperature and humidity were very high and there didn't seem much more to see. Then there were four sea days. We resumed our pattern of
three quizzes a day, some of which we won or at least drew. We now have a group of four who regularly join us, Deb our dinner companion, Keith and Eva, the couple from Berlin and their friend, Christine. I continued singing with the choir as we have a concert before Cape Town. We go to the occasional concert and have become friends with the two classical musicians who make up La Mer. We have tried to get back to the great Shuffleboard Challenge but have had difficulties as the weather turned stormy and the waves were two to three metres high. Water on the pitch restricted play. We had one game where Fletcher beat me on the last play by knocking my two 10 scoring discs out of the scoring zone!!!
We arrived in Durban to sunny skies but a cooler forecast of 26 degrees. We stayed on board in the morning, winning the morning trivia. In the afternoon we embarked on a Scenes of Durban tour. This took us from the port into the centre of the city. Last time we were here we had only gone to the beach so it was great to see the city itself. Our first stop was at the Victoria Markets. This was filled with souvenirs and local crafts. It was Fletcher's birthday so he bought two unusual elephants to add to his collection. From there we drove to the Botanic Gardens. These were beautiful with a great lake, a lily pond and local trees. Many birds were to be seen, including pelicans, roosting in the top of the trees. We had a lovely time looking around. Then it was back on the bus and a drive through some of the upmarket suburbs to a lookout where we could view the whole city, laid out before us.
The next stop was out of the city in the north of Durban where many of the 5 star hotels are situated. We stopped at Umhanga Rocks where there is a beach and a jetty which is flanked with fake whale bones. A great scenic spot.
After that we drove along the Golden Mile, a stretch of beach lined by hotels and holiday apartments before returning to the ship. A most enjoyable day seeing much more of the place than before.
That night, as it was his birthday we went to the specialty Indian restaurant called Saffron. There we had a lovely meal with a variety of entrees followed by Tamarind and Chilli prawns and dessert. We drank a French Sancerre which was a little disappointing. However it was a thoroughly enjoyable day.

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