Days 90-92 of 138 on our world cruise and we docked in Mombassa Kenya, so Jambo everyone, Jambo!
Our itinerary was modified to stay 3 days (instead of two) in Mombassa, Kenya because it was reported to the ship that our next port of call was to be Tanzania but they had reported cholera cases and future ports such as Madagascar would not allow us to enter their country if we stopped in Tanzania – so Viking opted to stay 3 days in Kenya and then 2 sea days prior to Madagascar. So this is a three day summary of the time we spent in Mombassa, Kenya.
First, this was monumental docking for Viking Cruises, their first time to Kenya’s original capital Mombassa which has a port that also serves neighboring countries of Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. Thus, when we arrived, the Kenya tourism board was hosting a media event announcing the new cruise company arrival and welcomed us with open arms hoping that more and more cruise lines will visit on a regular basis to spur their economy.
Another big challenge for the area is the African plains are at some 1200′ elevation above the coast and that restricts easy railroads and canals that can be used for transport – so in lieu of ships and rail, there is a large volume of trucks on the limited and narrow roadway network causing unbelievable traffic jams that can be as much as 20 miles long.
Mombassa city center is actually an island with only a couple of bridges leading to Africa’s mainland. Each day throngs of people either walk over the bridges or take a free ferry to reach the city. If you think its to commute to work, that would be wrong, since 40% unemployment in Mombassa indicates that these people come to looking for work, they come to look for food and shelter from the sun and may just simply have nothing better than to enter the social arena of Mombassa’s city center. This is a daily routine with the hopes that someday, something will happen and change their life. While poor with little hope, the school children would wave at our buses as we passed by with smiling grins on their faces. Humbling to say the least.
So we spent three days in Kenya, the first day gave us an introduction to the city, the second day we went on an all day safari to the Tsavo East national park a 3.4 million acre national park hosting thousands of African wildlife. Then the third day we took a more expansive tour of Mombassa’s other cultural sites with a trip to an animal rehabilitation center. All in all, we felt we got a very good candid look at life in Mombassa and grateful for the experience.
Day 1 – our introduction to Mombassa – we took a coach ride in the city to see the signature “M” tusks that was built over the road to welcome the Princess Elizabeth in 1952, however, she never got to see it then since her father died as she arrived to Kenya and we was whisked away to return to London. We toured Fort Jesus which was built in 1596 by the Portuguese to protect the port of Mombasa. A quick tour of the old town gave us a sense of how early years of settlers lived next to the fort. Then we were taken to a woodworking cooperative where 40 or so craftsman sit under a tent, and carve various figurines, and bowls out of the nearby wood from trees. Their showcase store we were taken to had their objects on display and each one you bought, the artist received 80% of the cost and the other 20% to the facility. The artist were working in oppressive heat, and still smiled and welcomed taking a photo of them working – they were extremely proud of their work and happy to see visitors – I understand that we were only the second cruise line to actually visit them.
Day 2 – SAFARI DAY!!!!
We woke early (4AM) to get into our 6 passenger Range Rover safari vehicle and traveled some 3 hours to get to the entrance to the Tsavo east national park. With no air condition it was only the breeze of the vehicle speed keeping us cool. Mombassa road rises up to the African plateau and the roadway was under reconstruction (often times the road was just compacted soil with no asphalt) the two lane roadway carries all the traffic from Mombassa to Nairobi and the amount of trucks on this route is unbelievable probably 90% of the traffic – tuk-tuks and motorcycles ride in between the traffic. We were also passing through little towns with shanty homes next to the road, kids walking to school, workers walking to work and people trying to sell products in tents. It was just chaos. Single passenger cars are infrequent but our band of 46 safari vehicles would pass trucks the trucks every chance they could and often squeezing pass a truck seeing a truck coming at us scared us to death. Amazingly, we never saw an accident.
The park was fabulous and I’ll set the photos of the animals speak for themselves. The 3 hour safari ride was followed up with a picnic buffet at the lodge which was quite good! From the lodge, it took another 60 minutes to get back to the park entry and we got another round of viewing animals.
The ride back to port was 3+ hour ride. It was more adventurous because the trucks were stuck in a 20 mile backup and with the road under construction, our safari driver would use the dirt path (behind the sidewalk/curb) to drive parallel to trucks sitting on the asphalt. It was surreal, and I have never been in such a ride in my life. We got back to the Ship at 7:45PM and our driver must have been exhausted, but considering it was also Ramadan, doing a full day of driving with no water or food made it more amazing.
Day 3 – we took a more expansive 8 hour tour of Mombassa in we did see some other interesting sites including the recently constructed Mombassa Central railroad station and the Haller animal reserve and enjoyed a wonderful lunch at the upscale Tamarind restaurant. The restaurant offered good food and views overlooking the Mombassa river across from the city. The Haller reserve was another highlight, and it was built into an ecological area adjacent to a cement quarry. The park is of a small enough scale for us to get up close with some of the animals at the park especially Hippos, Oryx, tortoises, giraffes, crocodiles, elands and monkeys. It was fun to feed the giraffes from our hands!
Upon our return to the ship at 5PM (all aboard was 5:30 pm) a group of Maasai was doing a performance for us as we walked up the gangway – they had music playing and jumping with their sticks in a traditional Adumu dance.
Closing thoughts – probably the most eye opening experiences any American could have – seeing the poorest of the poor and kind of the lifestyle the citizens have makes you appreciated each and everything we have. Seeing the wildlife on safari made me feel small, and simply a part of our earth. I realized that even with all the comforts human kind has made for ourselves we are no better to survive a catastrophe than people of Kenya who live in catastrophic conditions each day already. They are making incremental improvements – the. train station, the bridges to the city center, and the road construction we witnessed is to create a separate truck route. Kenya sorely needs a better transportation system and an economical approach to tourism. Getting visitors back and forth from venues is vital. A 13 hour day safari (mostly due to traffic congestion) needs to improve and when it does, the destination will be more desirable. Otherwise, our visit was an overall success and we left hoping the people of Mombassa will improve their environment and become a vibrant city culture.