I had been to Mombasa a couple of times before, even to the old town. But one thing that was still on the list was Fort Jesus. Its history in a nutshell: Fort Jesus was built by the Portugese around 1600 to protect the Old Town Port of Mombasa. After that it was taken over by the Sultan of Mombasa, the Brits, the Portugese again, the Omani Arabs and the Brits again? Anyway, Fort Jesus was declared a national park in 1958, and in 2011, it was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO and highlighted as one of the most outstanding and well-preserved examples of 16th-century Portuguese military fortifications. Because of all this, it is one of the most visited tourist attractions in Mombasa. So time for me to go check it out and share with you guys in a little photo tour. In addition I had to go eat at Forodhani ofcourse: you can never go wrong with some Prawns a la Forodhani & Biryani Rice right?! Fort Jesus:
>>> http://www.museums.or.ke/fort-jesus-mombasa/ >>> https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1295 Forodhani Restaurant: >>> https://www.facebook.com/Forodhani-Restaurant-1144262425610025/ >>> https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g294210-d11732197-Reviews-Forodhani-Mombasa_Coast_Province.html
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fter starting off the year with some epic partying in Kilifi, most of my friends had to go back to normal life in Nairobi. But I had a break in between contracts, meaning... more time to enjoy the coast! At times like these I really enjoy to just wake up and decide where that day will bring me. So I had no plans made in advance. I was in touch with some other friends that had also been in Kilifi (from Routes) and had headed down to Watamu, I had never really been to Watamu so I decided to pack my bags, get on a matatu and join them.
We met at Papa Remo, a beautiful hotel/bar because Alicia (Pophat) was gonna perform there that evening. It was a very Italian but lovely spot with very chilled vibes, we mostly hang on the beach with some drinks. While sitting on the beach we were looking out over the rock formations / islands out of the beach. And we started wondering, could we sleep on one of those? A random thought became a plan, and we got permission from the owners of Papa Remo to head down later. However, the tides come in strong and we had to make sure we would be back in time. So we walked down the beach to the town where we had some chipsi mayai (omelette with fries, a Swahili classic and one of my all time favorites as you might have read in my Arusha blogs) and some more Tuskers at a local joint on the roadside. Great meal for a great price! We walked back and it was already dark, so we tried to quickly get together our most important stuff from our bags in the car and headed out to the island. The tide had already started to come back so we had to wade through the water with all our stuff and try avoid the deeper ends, because the water was really strong. Just in time we made it to the tiny sand patch of the island. The island itself is rock, or maybe even coral? And the lower parts have been carved out by the sea water, so we had to give eachother a hand to get a hold of the rocks up higher and climb up the island. This was such a random plan, in the dark, with the tide coming in so fast haha but anyway, we all made it up there! And it wasn't that dark after all because the moon was bright. We put our sleepingbags (and inflatable hammock) down and chilled under the stars for a bit. We couldn't even wait for the next morning, because the sunrise had to be incredible from that spot! It was perfect, we fell asleep in the warm air, with a light breeze and the sound of crashing waves on the other side of the island. And also the reason I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt as PJ's and had one kitenge cloth to cover up. But our paradise sunset did not happen. Matter of fact, it became cloudy, foggy and it might have even drizzled for a bit and it was still windy, so I was the first to wake up and it was actually suuuuuper cold, with no sunrise to see anywhere with all the clouds and no warm clothes or extra blankets either... In addition, the birds on the island were a bit confused with us sleeping in their natural habitat and I was low-key fearing they would attack or shit on me... Thats the other side of traveling and adventures haha! |
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