Mombasa – Saturday July 28th

After breakfast I mentioned to the receptionist that I had a second class seat on Tuesday’s train to Nairobi and she warned me to be careful with my luggage. It got me thinking and I was now concerned that some or all of my stuff might disappear from the luggage carriage over the six hour journey. When I arrived at Mombasa Airport I had noticed on the carousel that many of the luggage zips were open. My own had been padlocked but the outer zips were also open.

I thought that this could be worse at a train station so I checked online for a flight option and found a Kenya Airways flight for the same day. One hour flight for €50 so I booked it. The thought of losing any (or even all) of my stuff just didn’t bear thinking about, especially as the journey in a proper sense hadn’t even started yet. I travel light with just old clothes but some meds/first aid and motorbike bits and pieces would be difficult to replace.

I took an Uber into Mombasa city and first went to see a former colonial prison known as Fort Jesus. A bit of a sick name really for a pretty grim place where, within the walls of which, many not so ‘Jesus’ like tortures were carried out over the centuries. It was built by the Portuguese but operated by various Omani moslem sultans to subjugate dissident rebels who fought against their oppressors (one wonders who the real “infidels” were!!). It was also used during various eras to temporarily incarcerate slaves before being shipped on to Zanzibar and then the “civilised” world.

Moslem influence is very prevalent in this part of Africa given it’s proximity to Arab countries and it was just as brutal on the indigenous people as was the influence of the Christian European invaders. I was reminded here of an article I once read about how Africa is not poor, it was robbed.

I then hopped in a tuk-tuk and wobbled into the nearby “Old Town” which is the historical centre of Mombasa. Narrow streets and countless people busy bustling their way through the day was a backdrop to the dirt, the smells and the dust in the air. It is quite a small area and one can only imagine what living conditions must be like for the residents of this part of the city. It didn’t take long to get around and as it was now sweltering so I got back to the Uber and headed back to Nyali which is the area where most of the tourist hotels are located.

Dinner after a quick swim and then an early night as I had to be up next morning at 4am to be ready for the driver who would be bringing me to safari at Tsavo…..