Mombasa (Day 9-10)

From the Stilts back packers resort we got a taxi, that brought us to our next hotel in Mombasa. We stayed at the Cowrie shell beach apt that was down a long alleyway along the beach. We were told later not to walk up this alley at night alone under any circumstance, after we walked back to the hotel from the main street. The guard told us to call the hotel next time and they will send a toot- took (basically a golf cart) to come and get us.

Kilifi

After we got checked into our hotel, our friend that we meet online meet us there to take us to her town. We all took a moch toot (a large van like bus) to our friends town of Kilifi, for only $2 USD. In about two hours, with all the stops we were in Kalifi. With a population of 72,715 (in 2020) it is still a smaller town. Most known for its beaches, we visited the popular Kalifi beach, but we were not prepared for a beach day. Neither my mom or I brought anything to swim in or relax on the beach in. So we ended up going shopping around the town instead. For lunch our friend took us back to her house, and cooked Pilau for us, a rice and meat dish. Before this we went and bought the food for it, for less then $2 USD we got rice, veggies, and meat from the butcher. As well as some tea and seasoning packets, we bought her a 5 gallon jug of water to keep at her house and to use for cooking, that was only .50 USD.

Watamu

NATIVES TOURS & TRANSFERS +254727902926

- Watamu Marine Park & Sudi Island Mangrove Forest Canoe Ride.

-Rating (Tour)- 1/5 We got a non English speaking tour

(Sudi island)- 5/5

(Owner/Driver)- 5/5

We got picked up at our hotel from driver, who ended up being the owner of the tour company. Our two hour drive to Watamu from Mombasa was filled with lots of talking and laughter as we were able to easily talk with our driver on the way. Makenzie told us that he wished all tourists were like us and that he could just put a chip in everyone to make them like us. Especially after we told him how we packed for the trip by making sure we had as little waist as possible. Including reusable zip bags and biodegradable toilet trees, and making sure we didn't leave any waste anywhere it shouldn't be. We also wanted to get some dresses while in town, when we told Makenzie this he went into the shop first for us and got the prices of the dresses then told us to go inside and don't pay over $4 for them. After we told him how every shop we went in would charge us more once they saw we were white (American).

Once on the beach we waited out to the waiting boat, we were very thankful we brought some water shoes with us! We also had with us a water bag that we had a towel in, our dry clothes and a few other things to keep dry inside. Once on the boat we realized we were the only Americans there, everyone else on the boat Italians. Mombasa is a very popular location for European countries to visit. There was only one guide on the boat that spoke English, at the start of the tour he sat and talked with us for a little bit but then we on top of the boat, we had no idea what was happening for most of the trip. Later Makenzie told us we should of called him and he would of gotten us onto an English ship but we didn't know that in time. Going out to sea we fallowed a pod of dolphins that were being very playful along the sides of the ship. Next we went to a sand bar to "relax" we were told we would be there for 10 to 15 minutes but apparently that was code for 45 minutes.

We finally got to go snorkeling after this, being excited about this for the whole trip we were disappointed with our tour at this point. They say Watamu Marine Park is one of the top 10 places to snorkel in the world, and yes it rained the night before causing the water to me muddy. But we were taken to a spot off the coral reef that hardly had any marine life. My mom likes to float on a life vest while she swims because she has bars in her back, we were told they couldn't give her one because there were not enough on the boat. Instead they gave her a floating life ring and pulled her around some. (They did not understand what so ever what we wanted) and after 30 min only of swimming they called us all back to the boat. Then we went to another shallow area where we waited around in the water to "relax" some more. Again we were told around 15 min and we were there for around 30. Then we were rushed back on to the boat, when finally found our guide that spoke English and asked what we were doing and he said we were late for lunch. We asked about going snorkeling again and he said we could do more later.

Sudi island

Once we landed we got to have our buffet lunch, of lots of rice, sea food and shell fish. When we finished eating we went down and meet our guide for our canoe tour. Locals go to the island every day (no one lives on the island) to clean up the ocean first thing in the morning. They clean up the beaches and surrounding waters, because of the lush mangrove forests around the shore litter gathers all around the island quite easily. They once found a ice cream container from Hong Kong floating among the tree roots. We even found some trash while we were on our tour, getting to help clean up the island.

The rest of the tour we got to learn about the plants and animals amongst the rivers. The river on the island opens to the ocean and many types of fish and shell fish use it as a breading ground. For its very shallow and the roots help add extra protection.

To the right, a baby lion fish.

Gede Ruins

We didn't get to go snorkeling again but once we got back with our driver we asked him if he could take us to the Gede Ruins. Makenzie agreed and even said he would go around with us! He said he has brought people there before but has never actually done a tour.

It is $10 USD for tourists to see the ruins and only $5 USD ($500 Kenya shillings) for locals to visit.

The ruins of Gede are relics of Arab- African settlements that are along the East-African coast. Built by the Swahili people during the 15th and 16th century, homing about 2,500 people who lived here while using trade contacts with counties in the Middle East and India. But this town was mysteriously abandoned during the 16th or 17th century, no one has yet to figure out why. After this the city was undisturbed for years and nature re-conquered it. In the 1920's the ruins were rediscovered and in 1927 it was announced as a Historical Monument. Remains of several mosques, a palace, residential houses and elaborate pillar tombs were all found. Gede has helped rewrite history, where it was previously believed that Africa was far behind the rest of the world before colonialism. Running water and flushing toilets were used by the city, houses had their own toilets in them even. Archeologists have found artifacts from all over the world, Ming Chinese vases, Venetian glass and lots of other things. It is clear that Muslim towns along the Kenyan coast traded heavily with cultures that were outside their own.

We got to walk the borders of the walls to this ancient city, seeing the outlines of all the old homes and palaces.

And see how nature has taken over the ruins!