Monday 2nd November I flew from Bristol to Paris
where I had to wait for eight boring hours before an overnight
flight to Nairobi. I then caught a local flight onwards to Mombasa.
I arrived at Mombasa airport at 9:45 am on Tuesday 3rd November to
be met by Brian & Jean who drove me to their house which is right
alongside the river. This is the view from their garden as we drank
coffee and talked.
Their house from the garden.
In front of their house is a small swimming pool
which I haven't sampled yet.
After lunch they drove me down to see the town.
Mombasa sits on an island. To the East is the sea and in the
distance you can see the river going up to the deep water harbour.
We saw several of these very old Baobab trees with
enormous trunks
and the ferry bringing people and cars across. On
the other side of the island is a causeway and a big bridge. Jean &
Brian live just outside the island on the north side, just over the
bridge.
One of the main entrances to the town has this
enormous gateway of metal elephants' tusks.
We visited the Anglican Cathedral
and went inside.
Then we visited the Roman Catholic Cathedral
and went inside.
Then we found these amazing doors at a Hindu Temple.
We took off our shoes and were allowed inside the temple.
This is the main altar with some women saying their
prayers.
All round the walls were these fantastic three
dimensional pictures. Each depicting a story in the Hindu history.
Finally we got back home again to have a nice cup of
coffee and some lovely date cake. They have three dogs. The one in
the background had an accident and was nearly stolen by some youths
in the village. They got him back with much bribery but he had to be
taken to the vet for treatment.
Wednesday 4th November.
Fort Jesus was built by the Portuguese around about
1580 to guard against the Arabs. This is the original entrance used
to bring in prisoners.
Looking out at the old harbour entrance through a
cannon hole.
Outside the fort
Walking through the old town.
This was the original harbour now only used by dhows
and other small boats.
In the old town this was the police station until
1958.
The Mombasa club where Brian and Jean took me for
lunch. This is next to the fort.
Then we visited the Haller Park which had been
reclaimed out of ground excavated for limestone for a cement
factory. These are Sally & Potti.
These might be Egyptian Geese. We are not sure.
These are Eland.
Feeding time at the crocodiles enclosure.
This one got it.
A giant tortoise from Aldabra island. (The one on
the right).
A Rhesus monkey.
And finally some Oryx.
Thursday 5th November.
Bombolulu. This is a
workshop and exhibition for disabled people.
A carpentry workshop. Most of their products are
sold in England through Oxfam.
Another workshop where they were making wheel
chairs.
Then we had a demonstration of tribal dances with
four boys and four girls accompanied by drums.
Then they even got me to join them.
This man then did a solo dance.
The Mamba Village. Mamba is Swahili for Crocodile.
Here they had over 10,000 crocodiles of all different ages. Some go
off for meat and others for handbags.
Curious ones came to see us.
Then they found a four month old baby for me to
hold.
They put it there !!!
This is Kombe who took me there with the baby.
Here Kombe is holding an egg.
In the evening we had dinner at an Italian
restaurant where the local dramatic society performed the first half
of an Agatha Christe play and then we all had to interview the cast
and guess who was the murderer. I managed to guess correctly, but so
did many others and so they drew all the correct answers out of a
box and mine wasn't drawn. Perhaps a good thing as the first prize
was to take part in their next production in a few weeks time.
Friday 6th November.
Kombe drove me down to
the main shopping centre of Mombasa. I was quite glad that he stayed
with me as most of the streets were very crowded.
Two Hadidah Ibis settled on the side of the swimming pool
to drink. The cage is over the steps to stop the dogs swimming in
the pool.
A dhow went past on the creek. This is the one we will be having a trip and food on later this evening.
Jean took me on a trip round her garden. Full of
exotic trees and plants. She is terribly knowledgeable and gave me
the names of all the plants. This is a Heliconia family.
More of Jean's amazing garden.
The front of their house in Mombasa.
Over the last few days since I arrived it has become
decidedly hotter and this afternoon we were very happy to have a
long swim in the pool.
The water was just perfect. Warm but refreshing.
In the evening we got onto this dhow for a lovely
trip up Tudor Creek.
