Road to Mombasa
Jambo from Mombasa, Kenya ! (Jambo means "hello" in Swahili)
We are so excited to be on the African continent, in the first country out of 5 African countries we will be visiting while on Semester at Sea. The thing we loved about Kenya right away was that we didn't have to go through immigration. Their people came on board and stamped our passports without our participation.
Kenyans sure gave us a warm welcome! When our ship arrived early in the morning there was a welcome party of dancers on the dock. Because getting on and off the ship is often a lengthy process, we didn't rush right off, but luckily we could see and hear them from our room.
On our first day we prioritized going to a grocery store to stock up snacks and other necessities, but our first stop was at the famous "tusks" along one of the major thoroughfares.
Directly adjacent to the tusks was a park with some nice walking paths. Eager to get out of the sun and on our way to the store we went through the park.
We couldn't help but notice a clamorous din in the trees above us. That's when we realized we were walking around beneath hundreds of bats!
There wasn't much else that day aside from grocery shopping, but it's always fun to see a local mall.
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| This is not the mall but we saw it and took a picture. |
On the next day we were ready for adventure. We decided to head to Old Town Mombasa for lunch and tourism.
Our first stop was Fort Jesus, a museum with a fascinating history. It was ordered to be built in the late 1500's by King Filipe I and/or II of Portugal and/or Spain (we didn't get the Iberian history explaining him), to defend old port Mombasa. Also, because Jesus already had a lot of churches named after him, they decided to shake things up by naming a fort after him. Nothing says Jesus like a fort.
Over the centuries the fort was conquered and claimed back and forth by Omani Sultans and the Portuguese at least 9 times until it was taken by the British who used it as a prison. We did not enter the fort but hoped to get a nice good look at it from the outside. Instead...
Over the centuries the fort was conquered and claimed back and forth by Omani Sultans and the Portuguese at least 9 times until it was taken by the British who used it as a prison. We did not enter the fort but hoped to get a nice good look at it from the outside. Instead...
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| Our nice good look at the Fort Jesus |
We found a spot across the street for lunch so we could continue to look at the outside of the Fort.
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| Dawa: Lemon, Honey, Ginger, and Sprite |
After lunch we veered directly toward old town starting with an ocean view stroll.
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| We thought this picture was an interesting contrast: the lone man swimming in his private pool surrounded by kids swimming in the ocean on a public beach. |
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| Extra Precation. There is no Life Saver. Fort Jesus. |
After getting to the beach, Jacob spotted a place we could walk along the water. Ordinarily we would probably not have been game but we were glad he was interested in doing some exploring (he had been pretty vocal about how hot it was and how little walking he wanted to do), so we set off along the water's edge.
We had to watch where we stepped because the rocks were FULL of these crabs crawling all over the place.
We finally reached the stairs up and found that it lead to a "back door" to Fort Jesus...
...that we weren't allowed to enter. The man on the stairs was kind enough to tell us that he had been turned away and that we would also need to turn back. The only problem? The tide was coming in and the rocky path that brought us here was shrinking quickly. We considered taking the "high road" outside the gate, but Jacob vetoed that idea. Luckily we made it back the way we came just as the soles of our shoes were getting damp.
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| "nope" |
With renewed adventure in our hearts, we set off into the narrow streets of old town. Many walking tours were available, but feeling like strong independent women, we decided to wander around self-guided. A couple of things were very clear about old town: 1) It was older than cars and roads, evident by the proximity of the buildings, and 2) what had once been a bustling center of commerce was now a somewhat dilapidated neighborhood in need of some TLC. It dates back to at least 1300's though it isn't clear when the current buildings were built. The location has been a center of commerce and trade going way back though.
We found a building that seemed abandoned, but had a plaque that read it was the headquarters of the anti-slavery movement. Down the street from that building we found a path leading to a boat dock...
There we found a local fisherman who was drying fish on his bow. He told us we had found the Well of Vasco de Gama (a misnomer, in that Vasco de Gama had only spent a few days in Mombasa in 1498 before he moved up the coast to Malindi where he found a less hostile reception. But that's another story.
The fisherman told us the well was famous because it was fabled to never run dry. He also said that it was the last drink slaves got before being forced onto boats during the Indian Ocean slave trade. The well predates Vasco de Gama or the presence of the Portuguese, but somehow they slapped his name on it.
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| Enough water for this gentleman to do his laundry |
We continued wandering the streets of Old Town.
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| At first I thought this was an inspirational message, until I saw the question mark. |
Ender had priced a really inexpensive guitar and decided to go pick it up to learn while on ship. It was cheap enough he wouldn't feel bad leaving it behind in a few months, and he already had someone offer to give him lessons.
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| It's not a Fender, that's for sure. |
Right away, soon to be famous singer/songwriter Tristan Alexander (also on our voyage) started teaching him the basics. He was sure to explain the many ways in which this cheap guitar was inferior to a well-made guitar, but would work for conditioning his callouses while he practiced.
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| Practice makes blisters! |
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