After careful consideration and an enlightened opinion from my host, I decided two weeks ago to go ahead with the plans of visiting my friend Susan G from medical school in Mombasa, Kenya, for a week before going to Amsterdam.
Before the tumultuous elections of December 2007, Kenya was considered the Bright Star of Africa – a stable country with a growing economy based on agricultural exports (coffee, fruits and flowers) and tourism. Susan had introduced me to Africa back in medical school in 1998 as she put in contact with my first rotation out here in Cameroun at the time – where she had lived for two years as a Peace Corps volunteer. Now she is a specialist in Infectious Diseases and has been living here in Mombasa since 2004, conducting a clinical research project on HIV risk factors, transmission and treatment outcome on a cohort of sex workers. She shares her time between Toronto where her husband lives and where she is completing a Ph.D, Seattle where her clinical practice is, and Mombasa where she conducts her research.
Back in January, the elections brought about a few riots in Nairobi and displaced people remain in the North of the country. However, since the power-sharing between mediated by Koffi Annan, things in Nairobi and here on the coast are fully back to normal - except for the sore lack of tourists out here in Mombasa. All chartered flights had been cancelled for the spring of this year. However, by now, all countries have lifted their travel advisories to the Kenyan coast.
Arriving late on Saturday, I went into full resort mode at the White Sands hotel, still sore from the Kili climb. Given as I’d dragged my scuba gear all the way, I found an excuse to go diving into the Indian Ocean on Sunday with Buccaneer Diving on the MV Dania, a wreck at 30 meters. The Danish and Dutch navies were in town, accompanying World Food Programme ships to be unloaded to Somalia, and the Danes were on my boat, doing their Advanced class. The wreck was pretty although a strong surface current made the dive a little challenging: lots of jacks, a huge honeycomb moray eel, a huge round stingray and a friendly grouper. The second dive was conducted at shallow Bamburi Coral Garden where I happily snorkelled for an hour while the guys were doing their orientation underwater. Monday was spent at the spa trying out Ayurvedic treatments (honey-perfumed oil in hair... strange but nice)
Susan picked me up on Monday evening and Tuesday, I visited one of the clinics where she works – they do HIV screening there. Her population consists mostly of 'working ladies', as she likes to say :)
And I toured Mombasa and its Old Town, which is a little decrepit. Mombasa is nonetheless one of the continent’s oldest cities, with a long history of colonization by both the Arab world and the Europeans, and part of the Swahili island-cities of the Middle Ages ruled by the Sultan of Oman. Fort Jesus, a Portugese-built Fort dating from the 13th century, was passed between the Portuguese and the Arabs until the British took over in the 1700’s.
View of the old harbour from Fort Jesus
Wednesday and Thursday were spent on safari at Tsavo East National park, Kenya’s largest national park. See next post for photos and blurb.
In Mombasa, I got to meet Susan’s crew of expats, some in the shipping business, others in diplomacy or the like. We went out to eat every evening, to make up for the food deprivation in Shamwana (boiled potatoes and tomatoes! For weeks! Argh!), we toured all the best restaurants on Mombasa’s North Shore ie. Nyali Beach: we had amazing sushi, amazing Indian food, and amazing mangrove crab at the Tamarind, complete with a glass of champagne over the harbour. It was just lovely!
Last night at the Tamarind, Susan and I poring over crab:
And today, Friday, I will say goodbye to Africa to board the plane for Amsterdam. I am writing you from the Nyali Beach Hotel, currently empty – I just finished swimming lapses for an hour alone in the pool, and walked on the white fine sand beach.
What I'm leaving in an hour!
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