Once we were all together, we went downtown Mombasa for a tour of Fort Jesus. A very tall man named Fauz (people he met called him "doctor" or "professor") gave us the tour and also walked us around the Old City afterwards. He was quite informative. Fort Jesus was built in 1593 by the portugese. It was built out of the natural rock that was already there, in the shape of a man to represent Jesus. It changed hands several times, and in the 1960's was used as a prison.
The Old City was busy and dirty, and the buildings were crowded with very narrow alleyways. Fauz gave us the history of some of the buildings, and we saw a graveyard which was used by the portugese. That's where Fauz pulled us aside and asked for his fee. But we were happy to oblige, he did an excellent job.
After the Old City, Polykens drove down Digo Road, famous for its huge replica elephant tusks over the road. We only got to go under the tusks because Polykens accidentally drove the wrong way. We made our way to Nyali Beach Hotel Resort. Even though it was a private resort, they let us in for the day. Frances remembered Nyali Beach from her first visit to Kenya, mostly because there was an old ship from Singapore shipwrecked on the reef a mile out, and the ship was broken into 2 pieces. The first time she was there, she went with Polykens in a little fishing boat and they were taken out to the reef and they could walk around the shipwreck. This time, only the small front half of the shipwreck was left. The rest apparently has been taken away for scrap metal, piece by piece.
We waited kabisa long for lunch, we almost gave up. Then it turned out not to be very good, oh well. But afterwards, we went swimming in the Indian Ocean and it was so fun! The waves were bouncing them to and fro, and the water was warm and the view was endless. Polykens stood on a patio overlooking the shore and took hundreds of pictures of them playing in the water.
When we were done frolicking, we drove over to Haller Park. It is a huge cement plant turned back into conservationist land, with lots of different animals. It is most famous for Owen and Mzee, the baby hippo who was adopted by a giant tortoise. There are 12 giant tortoises roaming about, we couldn't tell which one was Mzee. They were very tame, Anton had fun stroking them like pet dogs. There were monkeys everywhere, and some eland. We watched 2 hippos being fed, which brought them out of the water right to a prime spot where all the tourists could see them. Then through the fish farm to the crocodile feeding. The crocs all seemed to know the feeding was at 4:30, they started congregating just before that. But they weren't really being fed, they were being teased. A piece of meat was hooked onto a line and dangled just above the bevy of crocs, just out of their reach. But it made for some amazing climbing and jumping shots for the tourists. We were all happy when one of the crocs finally nabbed the bait.
Then we walked through the Reptile Park and saw a python constricting a chicken, and a bunch of other snakes which Polykens did not like.
We went back to the hotel (almost across the road) and changed for our fancy dinner at the famous Tamarind Restaurant. Excellent food, good service. They made us feel like royalty, including bringing warm wet cloths for us to wash our hands with before the meal. And a table on an open patio directly looking over the bay.
If we thought the driving was bad during the day, it is 10 times worse at night. Everyone goes where they want, when they want. The way they communicate to other cars is by honking or shining their brights directly at you when they get close. The matatus are the worse. They are little public vans designed to fit 12, but more often carry 30 plus some chickens and goats. The drivers are very pushy and aggressive. The matatus and trucks are often painted with their own sayings, such as "God is good" or "I don't want any excitement brother".
A lot of places are gated, and a guard opens and closes the gate for you. Nyali Beach was gated, Tamarind Restaurant, our resort. Our resort is actually double gated, and before we can go in, a guard walks around the car with a mirror on a handle and checks under the car.
The mosquitos are so small here you don't see them or feel them until it is too late. We've been sleeping under the hotel net while we've been here.
Sent from my BlackBerry device.
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