New Palm Tree Hotel Mombasa

... beach stretches for kilometres each way. The ocean glimmers between the many palm trees and is a light, inviting turquoise. Marvin and I both exhale the breath we had been holding – this is pure paradise. I am moving here! We scan the beach and finally decide on the palm tree that will be home for the next couple of days. Minutes later we are running towards the water and dive into the waves. Ahhhhhh ...

... they make jokes. So, yesterday when Michelle and I asked how long the drive would be our answer of 8 hours was a joke. It was around midnight, we were all exhausted and clearly not in the mood for a joke. When we left at 6:30, Michelle and I had both expected to get there at 2:30. So its 4:30 and we ask how close we are, "only twenty more minutes". 7:00: “see those lights right there? That's Mombasa”. 9:00: “Don ...

Soraya flew out to join me in Mombasa on Saturday to spend ten days with me on the coast of Kenya. She was born in Mombasa and hasn't been back since she was five so it has been a great experience exploring the town with her hunting out places from her past.

On Sunday we visited Fort Jesus that sits imposingly above Mombasa’s old harbour and was built by the Portuguese in the sixteenth century. It’s a pretty impressive building with wonderful views ...

Time is drawing to an end ..... Well it's been six weeks and most of you thought I'd survive two at the outset! I look like a liquorish allsort, I've got burnt bits and ghostly white bits strategically placed where mosquitos can't get at me during the day or night, the more toasted bits hiding an array of bites collected from visiting some pretty horrible areas and where mostly the mosi/insect repellent slides off in the heat; there should be a warning ...

... wenns ums Ranzoomen geht, von dah** wars auch egal. Und das Beste an dem ganzen Tag: Es war alles absolut UMSONST! Keine horrenden Parkgebuehren, keinen Fuehr** und keine organisi**te Safari. Meine Tipp an alle zukuenftigen Kenia-Besuch**! Tag zwei in Naivasha war dann etwas, auf das ich auch leicht selb** haette kommen koennen. Mein Reisefuehr**, d** Lonely Planet, meint zu Hell's Gate National Park, dass man Nationalparks "besuchen" od** "**leben" kann - und Hell's Gate ...

We drove thru the only National highway between nairobi and Mombassa... we stopped for lunch and a road side place.. and headed off to Mombasa for some grocery shopping . Here we got a glimpse of the crowded populous town.. one could see all the poverty which was shielded in Nairobi atleast the areas the we drove around to. Mombasa is a very old Port town and ...

... explained Mary. "We put the babies on formulas straight away and we also give them carrot juice. We don't give any meat or fish, we just give fruit. They seem to thrive on that." For those children who do not recover, the home also offers intensive care and in some cases drug therapy. Funded by voluntary contributions such care remains a constant financial struggle, but the couple remain resolute in their conviction to help the abandoned ...

... night and caught a bus to Dar the next day. The Tanzanians are not as strict about their carriage licensing rules as the Ugandans and Kenyans. Each matatu is licensed to carry 14 passengers plus destination shouter person and driver. Our matatu started from the border with us, two skinny Masai ladies and their babies and ten brightly dressed, animatedly friendly Kenyan and Tanzanian ladies. Half an hour later there were twenty passengers involved in a rolling game of ...