5 - 8 DECEMBER 2011 Kilifi & Malindi

5 - 8 December 2011

KENYAN COAST: KILIFI and MALINDI

Still hot and humid here

 Reposted in June 2015 due to original bad formatting

'Another' sunset, 'another' Tusker, this time at Kilifi

From Shanzu there is plenty of transport north to Kilifi, an hour or so north. I check into the spartan, but clean Tushuariane bar and lodge, right behind the bus station. The market is nearby and walking in my usual circles eventually find my way back to the Kilifi bridge over ‘The Creek’ as it is known here. Although to call it a creek is really misleading as you can see from my photo, the waterway is massive. There are great views up and down the river estuary from the bridge and a boatyard with fishing boats and dhows moored, their crews actively looking for passengers to make a few Kenyan shillings. Although the sunset cruises do sound tempting, along with a fish bbq on the beach, but it’s not practical for one person. But I’ve come to Kilifi to see the Mnarani ruins on the southern bank of the creek and the site remains only partially excavated.It was occupied from the end of the 14th century until the first half of the 17th century and then Mnarani was eventually abandoned after raids from Somalian tribes and the water supply failed.  As an added bonus there are massive baobabs on the site, several of which are supposedly the largest or oldest on the coast. They were really beautiful trees and one still remains in use where people leave offerings to local spirits.The contrast between the African interior of Kenya and its Swahili coast is vast – the sun and palm fringed beaches attracts many long term residents leading to plenty of ‘time share’ and permanent developments to meet their needs. One pay off for this service provision is a new supermarket in this tiny town, with loads of ‘western’ products. After ‘visiting’ the supermarket, I head for the Kilifi Members Club, where you don’t have to be a member and the views from the cliff are great for a lovely sunset. I have found the ‘best place in town’ according to a dutch couple I chat with. They spend the European winter here each year in a unit they have purchased and have become involved with a local orphanage over the years, for better and for worse, they find. 

From Kilifi it’s another easy matatu trip up to sunny Malindi, which has really prospered due to the influx of Italian tourists who flock here during the European winters. I check in at Ozis Guesthouse on the edge of the Old Town and due to the recent travel warnings I’m the only mzungu checked in. 

Its very relaxed and friendly here with the only drawback being the mosque next door who insists on broadcasting its call to prayer at 5am each day.  Off out to look for a cuppa and I find a café with good tea and brim full with Masai moran – young men – gathered here and a long way from their cows methinks. But they do look very groovy all traditionally dressed. A wander through town shows me the few historic attractions that remain here from the Portuguese visitors:

Vasco de Gama anchored here in Malindi in 1498 before heading due west to share his particular influence at Goa. On his return a year later, he constructed a navigational pillar made of coral at the Sheikh of Malindi’s home bearing the Portuguese coat of arms as a mark of ‘overlordship’ and of course topped by a cross.

 A Portuguese Chapel was built in the 15th Century and St Francis Xavier buried a couple of his sailors here, on his way to India in 1542. But I did think that the thatching may have been recently renewed - what do you think?

The House of Columns is a lovely old Swahili house and supposedly a museum. The three front rooms were all about a Prehistoric 'Coelacanth' fish caught by local fishermen in 2001. Measuring 1.7m long, this fish was believed to be extinct and known only from fossil records until it was rediscovered in 1938. This prehistoric fish species has survived for 400 million years and this is the northernmost coelacanth ever discovered, giving it added scientific value. Not terribly interesting unless you are into big, old fish, really. Then there are posters about Islam and Vasco de Gama but even the history of the house, when found, was very vague. Best thing about visiting the House of Columns was sitting out of the sun on its shaded second storey verandah, watching the world go by for a while. Apparently there is a commercial crocodile farm and snake park just out of town, but I’ll give that a miss. The offshore Marine National Park is Kenya’s oldest but after seeing the piles of seashells available for sale, I’m guessing there may be a fair amount of ‘harvesting’ of at least one sort going on. The combination of Swahili culture, muslim population and Italian visitors provide a wide gamut of places to eat and drink including Malindi’s Deep Sea Fishing Club where you do pay to be a member to drink there, but the decorations here beat the other hands down – mounted marlin and shark along with hookers gracing the bar looking for sailors! 

Other places to eat around here for mzungus are pricy by local standards but great offerings including pizza, salads and fishy delights at Old Man and the Sea or I love Pizza or Baby Marrow. Plenty of stores offering dross for the European visitors and the folk I see all look to be shopping up a storm!

Reading the newspapers, my plans to travel from Lamu via Garissa to Nairobi have now taken another backward step after reports of an explosion killing one policeman and injuring three others at the Ifo Refugee Camp in Dadaab, Garissa. This camp is home to more than 400,000 Somali refugees and refugee leaders have condemned the attack, blaming it on Al Qaeda linked Al Shabaab militant group. Officials are now enforcing a 9pm curfew in Garissa and I guess I will have to give it a big fat miss... bah

Christine from Mombasa Girl Guides had given me the contact for Pauline, Malindi’s Girl Guide Commissioner whom I telephone late in the day to make arrangements to meet tomorrow. She will be ‘on duty’ at her Primary school in Gede, tomorrow which is very convenient.Gede is only 18km away and I had planned on visiting the ruins there.

After arriving at Pauline’s school, she gives me a tour of the facilities which cater for both mainstream students and for students with physical disabilities, who are full time boarders here. Then together we visit Gede Ruins, one of the principal historical monuments on the Kenyan coast. 

It’s a maze of derelict houses, palaces and mosques from at least the 11th century with the tombs and mosques showing evidence of ornate decoration.  

The Swahili palace providing evidence of Gede’s prosperity during its history of trading. The site was abandoned around the 17th or 18th century, with many theories for as to why, including those raiding Somalians, water supply failure or the Portuguese removal of Malindi’s Sheikh in 1597. Whatever the reasons, the forest overtook the site and was only rediscovered in 1920s. Extensive excavations revealed a dense central cluster but there are ruins are scattered throughout the forest here. Pauline has visited the site several times and is very knowledgeable about what there is to see. However my guide’s walking tour shows us an alternative area which Pauline knew nothing about so she is also happy to be exploring with me.

The museum nearby is quite interesting but the most surprising project is an butterfly project whereby farmers are paid for the pupae they collect and supply which are then shipped around the world. Returning to Gede village proper, we meet with Pauline’s two sons – her youngest and oldest children – for a great lunch at a local restaurant. I ask Pauline about the Masai and she tells me that they come to the coast looking for mzungu wives – they go to the nightclubs in their elegant traditional dress where they appear very exotic looking to ‘pick up’. How peculiar but it must be worth their while because there are certainly plenty of them in town. After a great lunch we head off to Pauline’s home where she has an extensively cultivated shamba – papaya, passionfruit, cassava and other vegetables watered by irrigation. It is all very organised and very, very productive in supplementing her income – A guide is thrifty and makes good use of her time indeed! 

Photos are snapped, emails swapped and time to bid farewell as I make my way back to Ozi’s in Malindi. I find I another tourist has checked in here and I meet Steve on the balcony, who is on vacation here in Kenya for a few weeks. He is very interesting to talk with and I learn that when he was shown his room, he paid cash to a complete unknown, only realising later when the receptionist asked him to pay. I find this hilarious – yes I am mean – but I can only imagine the delight the recipient must have felt at getting a Ksh1000 ‘tip’ for showing off a room! But Steve has a great sense of humour, I learn what a ‘gibbous’ moon is and he is planning to visit the Marafa Depression nearby (there is?) so will blog it for me to check out if it’s worthwhile visiting when I return from Lamu. So to that end we swap blog addys and are soon joinedon the balcony by three guys who have been volunteering on a local island, teaching. They are in town to organise a few things after having had some problems with local ‘beach boys’. Together with a couple of other tourists staying at the guesthouse (german & US) we all head out for a cheap meal and a few beers. A most enjoyable evening, especially partaking in conversations on a large range of subjects and to listen to wide, something I have missed over the year and Speedy's blog is much more amusing and succinct than mine and he was kind enough to rate me a mention on his blog: http://speedysplanet.blogspot.com/2011/12/hakuna-matatu.htmlIf you're reading this Steve, then I have to tell you that I read a reference to a gibbous moon in HG Wells Time Machine yesterday!

FACT: According to newspaper reports, Kuria East and West districts have been on a female circumcision frenzy after three days of activities, ignoring national laws. Hundreds of schoolgirls, some as young as eight years old, underwent the traditional rite that now allows them to get married, raising doubts that they will continue their studies in the New Year. The ward councillor defended Female Genital Mutilation, saying that the Kenyan Constitution protects cultural practices. Here in Kenya 32% of all women aged between 15 and 49 are circumcised.  Female Genital Mutilation is a procedure that is internationally loathed and outlawed.