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Kenya: Day 1: From Mombasa to Nairobi

Kenya, here we are. We landed in Moi International Airport, Mombasa and we took a taxi to the city. He dropped us of at the Modern Coast coach company, where we already booked a ride to Nairobi. We left our luggage with them and since we had a couple of free hours, we explored the city a bit.

First impressions were disappointing, because the city was crowded with people, very dirty, full of smog, therefore we moved a bit from the main road towards the sea and it was a bit better. In a two hour walk we quickly checked all the major attractions, got familiar with matatus and tuc-tucs, bought a Safaricom sim card and soon we were on a bus to Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, which was 500 kilometres away. The ride was long and bumpy and we had quite a big delay.

Since we arrived to Nairobi in the dark, our CS host Willys Mark and his girl Mary picked us up with borrowed car and together we went to his place in Umoja district, lower income estate. We settled in and later we went out for a beer and welcome dinner.

Our apartment is small and placed in an area, where Mzungus usually don't come, still we had a normal toilet, shower (operating only 4 days per week), small bedroom, kitchen and living room. All in an area of 25 m^2.

Away from the crowd in Mombasa. Mombasa Island is a 5 by 3 km coral outcrop located on Kenya's coast on the Indian Ocean.

 

Morning walk on the island. 

The old city is strongly Middle Eastern, with narrow streets, high houses with carved ornamental balconies, and mosques and temples. It is the site of Fort Jesus, built by the Portuguese (1593–95) and now a museum. 

Bazaar

The city

On the bus to Nairobi

Our bus with a little bit crazy driver, but they all are, so you get used to it.

 

Evening in Umoja with Willys and Mary, beers (Tusker was good) and a goat leg. African music was great, girls with big asses shake a lot and we were the only white people in the bar. After a couple of them we returned home and we had difficulties to unlock our apartment, since they use holes in the door, where they put a lock.

Elevation increased from Mombasa to Nairobi for 1660 meters, distance we drove was around 500 kilometres, but as you can see, Kenya is big, so we still have to travel a lot.

GeoCache found (with me were 2 trackable items, "Edelweiss", TB4JGEB and "Travel Pirate Geocoin", TB5D2YM:
- Baobab Forest, EartCache, GC1785K

Previous days on blog of Kenya travel days with Nada:
Pre-Pre Day, Pre-Day.