Kenya - Mombasa

Located at sea level 4 degrees south of the equator, Mombasa was "Africa hot." Sitting in the shade with fans going, like I did while sipping masala tea at this cafe, you enjoy the illusory relief of waves of warm air brushing your sweaty skin, but as you an you stand up, you realize you haven't cooled off at all. In the sun, you bake.

I'm sure the temperature contributes to the languid feeling of the place, and I basically just wandered the streets enjoying the unhurried pace, the market street with lively printed fabrics hanging between cheap molded plastic household items and imported second-hand children's clothing, and the faded Indo-Arab architecture. It was safe to walk around alone, and I even hopped into a little 3-wheeled fresh air taxi when my legs had enough of strolling in the sun.

At Fort Jesus, originally part of the Portuguese trading network in East Africa, I had a very typical run-in with an African huckster. It was the low season for tourism in Mombasa, and at many moments I was the lone foreigner wandering past small stores, attracting a never-ending round of the, "Jambo, Sister, come look at my shop, look for free! Karibou!" chorus.

When I reached the fort, I paid too much for a barely-cold Fanta at a kiosk where the seller refused to tell me the price until I agreed to buy and pulled out my wallet, then I stood for a moment checking out the sign board posting entrance prices (Kenyans 100 Kenyan Shillings, East Africans 400 KSh, Others 800 KSh).

As I paused, a neat-looking gentleman in blue shirtsleeves with an official Mombasa Tour Guide badge approached me and began explaining the fee structure for the attraction (as written on the sign), the rules for taking photographs (only allowed inside, once you pay - no photographs of the outside), and the fact that you need a guide to tour the fort.

Hmmm? I was 98% it was not required to have a tour guide to visit the fort - after all, "walking tour" pamphlet was available for 100 shillings, and why would they sell that if you couldn't walk around without a guide? And none of the guide books that mentioned Fort Jesus mentioned anything about having a guide accompany you. Plus, I was 100% sure that I just wanted to walk around by myself.

He wouldn't leave my side as I approached the entrance, and when I questioned him, he repeatedly answered that I "must" have a guide. But "must" is not the same as "required" is it? So I stopped him and asked, "Are you telling me there is a rule at this fort that I cannot enter unless I have a guide?" He hesitated before squaring his shoulders and declaring, "Yes." I didn't see a way, short of physical violence, of getting him away from me, so I just turned and walked toward the ticket booth. Also, the little bit of doubt in me thought, if I do end up stuck wandering this fort with this guy, I don't really want him to be surly and angry at me.

When we got up the ramp to the entrance, he greeted the ticket seller, leaned casually on the counter, and started chatting with him like old friends. He waved his hand for me to pass him my entrance fee so he could get the ticket, but I stepped up to the counter instead. "Is it not permitted for me to enter on my own? Do I have to have a guide?" I asked. The ticket man raised an eyebrow and paused, at which point my guide straightened up and said, "Oh, no, if you don't want to do it that way, there is the pamphlet for 100 Ksh, here, pay 100, and you can walk it yourself, if that is how you want to do it. Is that what you want to do?" As if he had no idea...

Fort Jesus had beautiful views of the Indian Ocean, as did my hotel. There is a coral reef off the coast of Mombasa, and the waves break on the reef, leaving the water on the shore calm, clear, and sparkling. My dip in the Indian Ocean meant that I have now swum in 3 of the world's oceans - and I'm not planning on hitting the Arctic.

Follow the link below for more pictures of Mombasa:

Mombasa