Wasini

To put it simply, Wasini Island is a slice of paradise. It's a small island just off the Kenyan mainland, with just a couple of small villages and some guesthouses.

We're staying at Blue Monkey Bandas, which is an off-grid guesthouse on the northern shore. To get there from Mombasa, we take a painless matatu to Shimoni, then jump on a boat to take us across the channel. The boat isn't quite able to take us all the way up to shore, however, so we are given water shoes to navigate the last 100m on foot. We quickly fins out that the water shoes are there to protect us from the legions of sea urchins underfoot. Amazingly, the local guys from the island don't wear shoes, and don't really seem to be paying much attention to where they are putting their feet.

The place we're staying is incredible- it's completely off grid, so the lights are solar, food is sourced from the island, and we have bucket showers.

We spend the first day hanging out on the shore, watching the waves gently come in, drinking amazing Kenyan coffee. When the tide goes out, we head into the water (in our water shoes!) and have a walk around the shallows. Not only are there thousands of urchins, but there are also small Brittle Fish, which are similar to starfish, but have long tendrils rather than stout arms.

In the evening, We head to the western shore to watch the sunset. We walk through the village, and everyone waves at us, shouting "Jambo!", including one small child who is only wearing a tank top. We pass the local football club, decorated with the crests of all the major European clubs. We end up at a ship-breaking yard, full of old rotting fishing boats. Some fishermen are working on one of the ships as the sun sets.

After dark, we have a delicious meal of local vegetables, including a sort of sea weed that grows in the shallows. We chat to the co-owner, a German woman who runs the place with her Kenyan husband, and she tells us hilarious stories about the place. One of our favourites was about an American couple who were completely unprepared for the off-grid nature of the place. They had no idea how to use bucket showers, and asked for cereal for breakfast (this was met by a deadpan "you do realise, we're on an island in the middle of the ocean?")Read more