Mombasa

The final stop on our journey was in Mombasa.  It is a very interesting city, though to be honest we really didn't see much of it.  I had spent some time in Mombasa prior to this, and had stayed in the downtown area, so had walked much of the city.  When Leslie and Joel decided to come, Leslie worked out that we would stay at a resort north of the city, in Nyali.  I had not stayed anywhere like this, so it was a bit of a surprise.  The Voyager is a very nice resort, though the experience was different than I had imagined.  We were a long way from the city, and the resort is definitely more interested in the visitor spending time (and thus money) at the resort.  So, getting away and doing things away from the resort was difficult.  This was made even more difficult because of Joel's injured foot, which a doctor had looked at in Nairobi.  He was on crutches at the resort, which irritated him no end, and couldn't get in the pool at all.  He certainly couldn't go on the beach, which is pretty polluted, I think, off the coast of Mombasa.  It's a big city, the second largest in Kenya, and generates a good bit of pollution.  Still, the Indian Ocean is beautiful, and the resort was very, very nice.

This is me, with the beach in the background.

The grounds at the resort were beautiful.

This is the building we were staying in, first floor, on the right hand side.  The resort is much like a cruise ship, with activities planned throughout the day.  We didn't really take advantage of everything, though Leslie and I had a few beverages.

Sunrise over the Indian Ocean.  Lovely.

I got away one of the days and visited an historic site on the coast called Jumba La Mtwana, which means "house of the slaves" in Swahili.  It is an old Swahili town found on the coast.  I had been to Gedi, which is a bit more famous and farther north, and had wanted to visit this site.  Very interesting place.  The walls and houses are made out of coral rock.  The guide was very nice and showed me around the site.

One of the typical structures.  The arches are very neat at the site.

Much of the site is uncleared, and I really don't think any archaeology has been done here in recent years, which is too bad.

A typical scene at Jumba.

Me looking a little frazzled in the heat.

One of the differences between here and Gedi is that Jumba is still right on the beach.  These settlements were involved in trade with the Arabian Peninsula for slaves and wood, using the monsoonal winds to take them back and forth.  We think mainly of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, but at one time the Indian Ocean represented a huge trading basin.  It still does to an extent, but it was this trade that cemented the connection between Arabia and East Africa, and resulted in sites like Jumba.

There are some massive baobab trees on the site, probably dating back around 600 years.

Eventually, it was getting to be time to leave.  Here are Evan and Joel with the ocean in the background.

It is very beautiful, and I plan on coming back, since there are a lot of things that I haven't seen on the coast.

We flew that afternoon back to Nairobi, where we spent the night, because the plan that Joel, and Evan were taking to London left at around 8:00 in the morning.  They couldn't make that flight any other way.  So we got up at five that morning, and our driver Sammy came and got us at 5:30, and we were at the airport by 6:00.  And then, like that, they were gone.

I think they had a good time in Kenya.  I know Evan enjoyed his time here.  I will be joining them very shortly, leaving this fascinating and lovely country.  There are problems here, as anywhere else, but this was a great experience.  I may post up a few last entries after I return to the United States, but this is pretty much the end of my journey here in Kenya as well.