Tuesday, December 31, 2013

1984 - Solo to Kenya and Seychelles: Mombasa



Friday 27 April 1984 – Mombasa

I packed my suit etc and very efficiently laid out my clothes for the morning and went to sleep like an angel until about 02.30 when I woke up feeling awful.

I had taken my two malaria pills (the disease is said to be rife on the Coast, although I haven’t seen or heard a mozzie up here) just before retiring – the chemist was insistent that I should only take them after a heavy meal. I’m pretty sure that was the problem because when I read the pamphlet it said that one of the side effects might be a feeling of nausea. I even tried to vomit but couldn’t, so putting it down to the pills

I tried to get back to sleep. I dozed on and off until finally I got up at 04.00, shaved, dressed and read my book until 05.30 when I checked out, having been told that I should be at the airport one hour before the 07.00 takeoff. There was no one at the airport at that ungodly hour apart from a bunch of disgruntled Arabs from Saudi whose flight to Mombasa had been diverted to Nairobi where they had been offloaded at 02.00.

Staff members and more passengers started trickling in about 06.10 and, surprisingly, we took off on time at 07.00. it was quite a circus getting the Saudis aboard as they had about twenty pieces of hold luggage plus umpteen bits of hand luggage and were 105 kilograms overweight. Asians are not the most popular people in Kenya and the ground crew gave them a bit of a hard time before relenting.

It was a very good flight down to Mombasa with some lovely views of Kilimanjaro which of course was in full view. The countryside is very flat however and looked pretty dry as we headed towards the coast. There was thick cloud over Mombasa and it was raining pretty solidly when we touched down. The hot humid air really hit me as I got off the plane. Mombasa is surrounded by mangrove swamps and the tide was out. So the fresh air was not quite as fresh as I had hoped it would be after sitting surrounded by Saudis who smelt rather strongly – dirty bums was the predominant odour – and who were smoking rank tobacco. I was in two minds to remind them about Allah’s views on the subject but thought better of it.

The breakfast on the plane was nice – fruit salad, rolls and croissants although I stuck to the fruit and the coffee, which was surprisingly good. (I’m not sure why I was surprised. Did I not know that Kenya was a major coffee producer?) the luggage came off quite quickly and I shared a taxi with another passenger – a Belgian named Freddie Finch – since we were both going to the Nyali Beach Hotel.

Nyali Beach Hotel
We went through the most squalid area of town with badly thatched mud huts apparently sinking into the mud which surrounded them, wrecks of cars and everywhere an air of desolation. The hotel foyer was pleasant however and our welcome was warm. Since I was on a “special” at $25 per day for dinner, bed and breakfast I was in one of the rooms furthest but four from the foyer – 250 metres to be exact and up three flights of stairs. The room looked a bit sparse at first glance, having no carpeting, but of course it is a beach hotel and the local sand is very fine. The reason for the long walk to the room is fairly sound too. The hotel has obviously grown over a period of time and as expansion northward is not possible it has spread slowly south – and thus ensured that every room is sea facing. The view from my room is rather exotic with an old wreck on the reef being framed by waving palms.

Nyali Beach
It continued to rain the whole day. Mainly a fine drizzle but occasionally a heavy squall would sweep in from the sea. It seems that this may have kept the temperature down a bit because it was only about 28C today. I went  down to the beach however to have a snouse around and a swim. That was also a little disappointing because it was dead low tide – which meant there was a bit of a smell about. Maybe that was from the weed which covered much of the beach and the bottom of the sea. Not that any of this  really bothered me, but I could see any chance of persuading Rab and Matt to accompany me on a return visit fading rapidly into the distance.

There were all manner of water sports available so I had my first lesson in Windsurfing. A very pleasant little lad – Selima – was my tutor and he did the job pretty well I thought. I spent all my time in learning how to balance on the board. Actually that is not correct. I actually spent most of my time in the water having failed to balance on the board. My lesson was cut a little short by a squall but Selima continued the basics of sail handling on land before grabbing the board and hurtling off at high speed, making the most of the wind.

I was torn between another lesson in the afternoon and a visit to town. I finally decided on the latter so I could give a full and accurate sitrep on my return home. I bumped into Freddie in the foyer. As he had finished his business a little earlier than he had expected, he was also heading into town. He offered to share the taxi fare. I would really rather have gone on my own, but it was awkward to decline his offer, so off we went in a dilapidated Peugeot 404 taxi which I thought would cease to function any moment. It didn’t however and the driver carted us around pretty well, all things considered.

Prices in the shops here are higher than Nairobi so I didn’t buy anything except a Muslim fez which you can’t get up there. Freddy and I had agreed to meet the taxi back at the Castle Hotel so I made my way there. I bought Rab a rather unusual T-shirt with a sequinned leopard on it in one of the shops at the hotel which surprisingly enough were more reasonable. It is not much of a town I must say. It reminds me of the poorer Indian quarters of Durban. Very tatty and dirty and rather smelly.

There were plenty of pretty flash local girls hanging around with the tourists at the hotel and some pretty awful looking blokes who were presumably pushing drugs. I had a couple of offers in town and at the beach for marijuana or cocaine. We had a drink at the hotel while we waited for the taxi. Unfortunately mine came with ice which I whipped out rapidly as our hotel brochure had said that the local water is suspect. I couldn’t have been quick enough though because b y the time we got back to our hotel I had the gripes and the trots. By this time Freddy, pleasant as he was, was getting on my nerves a bit, so I used this as an excuse to return to my room.

I did feel a bit grim actually and just lay and read, replacing my lost liquids with tonic and bitter lemon from the mini bar being reluctant at that stage to even try the drinking water supplied. By 20.00 I was feeling a little better and rather peckish not having eaten since the previous night so I ordered a very pleasant meal from room service – prawn cocktail, grilled kingfish and fresh fruit. And so to sleep at about 21.30.

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