Nyali

Had breakfast then called an Uber to take me to Fort Jesus, a Portuguese fort built in the 16th century which was later captured by the Omanis. The fort is built to depict a man. It also doubles as a museum with lots of artifacts and pictures. Entrance fee for non-east Africans is Ksh 1,200 Our tour guide Aghakan offered to also do a tour of old Mombasa for us, so I extended his contract.

Mombasa reminds me of Stone Town, Zanzibar. Same concept, narrow streets with similar doors and building design. A lot of the landmark buildings have been converted to residential houses with a wooden plaque on the wall for identification and brief history. Had Mutton Byriani, basically basmantic rice and goat meat. Was a nice meal in a restaurant by the sea overlooking English Point Hotel.

After the tour we took a Matutu (keke) to City Mall, the largest shopping mall in Mombasa. Changed $200 at exchange rate of Ksh 98 per dollar. There was no supermarket in the mall so we strolled down to Nyali Centre which had a big supermarket called Naivas, where I bought drinks, snacks, mouth wash (the one I came with had poured in my suitcase). After buying stuff to stock up my fridge I took an Uber to the hotel, rested a bit and went to the restaurant for dinner at about 8:00 pm.

There was a birthday cake procession by the restaurant staff. Later on some acrobats entertained us with pole climbing stunts which reminded me of a similar show by the Kenyans at last year’s Calabar carnival.Read more