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Close to paradise in Kenya - Kenya
by Colin | Date >
2004-08-12 | Country : Kenya | City : Lamu
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| Wanting to put some distance between us and Nairobi, yep got caught in a money exchange scam which ended with us belting after the perpetrators down a Nairobi street clutching envelopes containing scraps of newspaper which cost U.S Dollars. So we were quite happy to leave and when you are hitching on a tight budget the last and most expensive place to be is a big city. Got a lift on the back of an open van through Tsavo National Park, which is more or less the distance to Mombassa on the coast about 500km. Mombassa is a steamy, hot fascinating place and arriving in the evening made inquiries as to cheap accommodation from one of the shadier critters who led us straight to a brothel which was just an open area separated by curtains like a hospital ward (He must have been on commission and seen a pair of likely mlungu’s – whites), Oh yes I was travelling with John another cockney (scuse the pun), friend I had met on Kibbutz Merchavia in Israel. Found another flea pit, but at least the fleas didn’t want to charge us.
We reached Lamu via the beautiful Malindi and the only way to reach the island was to take a dhou (traditional sailing boat) on to the nearest I’ve been to paradise. Imagine an island with no cars (most of the streets are as wide as 2 people), a room for the equivalent of 50p a night and waterfront meals of the freshest and tastiest fish for about the same, and the best beach was by the only hotel there with the only bar, and we met a couple of Aussie Sheila’s. I wished that week could go on and on, but it wouldn’t be called travelling if you didn’t move on.
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