To the Coast

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The morning after arriving back in Nairobi from the safari, I went straight to get a bus to Mombasa. This was quite a long journey and I arrived in Mombasa at about 8 o'clock. I met an American, Eric, on the bus and we shared a tuk-tuk to Mombasa Backpackers, which is about 15 minutes outside the city in the Nyali area.

The Backpackers is a bit of an oasis in Africa with a swimming pool, bar, kitchen serving food, hammocks etc. I spent a couple of days chilling out here not doing a whole lot. There was also a good crowd staying here at the same time so there were some fun nights.

I did venture into the city centre a couple of times. I found it to be a very interesting city, with a major Indian influence. The Fort Jesus is the main tourist attraction. It was built by the Portuguese in the 16th century in such a way that to attack anyone of its turrets, leaves you open to attack from the others (if that makes any sense).

The old town was also very interesting to walk around. It seemed as if not a lot had changed over the centuries there. I found a resturant called the New Chetna on Haile Selassie Road, which served an amazing Indian buffet. It was all vegetarian, but I was stuffed after it. After a few days, I decided to buy a bus ticket to Lamu to make sure I actually left the next morning.

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