Beach Break at Tiwi
If there is one great thing about world travelers it is that they can usually find a decent beach at a decent price. There are many good hotels with reasonable prices during the off season. One of our favorite little surprises at Tiwi Beach was the vervet monkeys, especially the one who had the guts to enter our room while we were there.
Hot & Humid! Where’s the Beach? Mombassa
Mombasa is very much like Dar es Salaam, Tanzania with a greater influence of the Arab world as seen in the food, architecture, dress and languages spoken. There are many mosques calling the faithful to prayer several times a day (including at 5:00 a.m.), people dressed in traditional garb (including women wearing long dresses, veils and occasionally burkahs) and hearing more Arabic languages spoken where we were pretty used to hearing Swahili.
The city is fairly large and, therefore, polluted by too many diesel trucks and buses and more cars than could possibly fit in its streets. It is fairly humid as it is an ocean side city which makes it uncomfortable for exploring. Instead, head for the beach.
Nairobi – Big City with Arabic & Western Influences
On the way to Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya, we spotted a terrific mixture of old and new, traditional and modern, as well as Western and African. The land has, for the most part, been cleared of forest and jungle to make way for agriculture. Where crops won’t grow, the land is used for grazing cattle and goats.
Like elsewhere in the world, the countryside reflects the traditions of the local cultures with mud huts, colorful clothing and subsistence agriculture. In cities, we saw a lot more high rise buildings, traffic jams and western clothing.