MALINDI
Thriving on a curious and attractive blend of ancient Arab and African cultures known as the Swahili culture, Malindi's origins can be traced back to the 13th century Indian Ocean trade. Malindi probably become well known when famous Portuguese explorer, Vasco da Gama made a landing there on his way to India. The narrow lanes and fine Swahili architecture of Malindi's old town present a marked contrast to the modern hotel facades and curio shops. It is a bustling, typically African town with its Swahili quarter and busy market and beaches extending to the north and south.
Malindi is also known for its superb uncrowded beaches, its azure blue sea which is ideal for surfing, snorkelling, scuba diving, fishing and boating. Within easy reach is the famous mystic island of Lamu, with its donkey caravans and fisherman's dhows as well as excursions to Kenya's world famous Game Parks and wild life sanctuaries.
The Woburn Residence Club is situated in five acres of landscaped tropical gardens, a few minutes drive north of Malindi town. A 10 minute walk takes you to Woburn's lovely uncluttered private beach area on the sea in which surfing is possible at certain times of the year. Windsurfing, sailing, scuba diving and deep sea fishing are also practiced on nearby beaches.
The airport is a 10 minute drive away and whilst Malindi remains a blissfully unsophisticated and still a developing town, it retains much of its Swahili charm and Arabic influences. It offers a variety of hotels, restaurants, shops, banks, two casinos and a busy market.
There is much of interest in and around Malindi, internationally renowned for its big game fishing and its 19 beautiful marine parks. Nearby, horse-riding, sailing, wind-surfing, diving, snorkeling, golf and tennis are available.
Mambrui, a charming Islamic village with its huge white sand beach and dunes and excellent restaurant is a short drive away as are the fascinating ruins of the 'Lost City of Gedi' which the inhabitants inexplicably abandoned in the 17th or 18th centuries. Gede vanished inexplicably, swallowed by trees and lianas, to lie undiscovered until the 20 th century. The outer wall of this lost city encloses an area of about 18 hectares and a well-informed guess would put the population at around 2500. Many of the houses together with the Sultan's palace have been excavated and partly restored; perhaps it is wandering in a lifeless city, which, without fail, evokes mystery, suspense and melodrama as the visitor relives a past era. Even at high noon when the hot sun strikes down through the surrounding jungle the rustle of monkeys or the flutter of birds can make the heart leap. Few people linger in Gede's ruined walkways as the sun's shadows lengthen.
WATAMU
Set around Turtle Bay, a curve of aquamarine water, Watamu’s coral gardens and atolls sweep inland into the recesses of Mida Creek. Covering 10 square kilometres, Watamu National Park is surrounded by a national marine reserve, embracing a strip of coast and sea, including Mida Creek. At the northern end of the marine reserve is the Malindi Marine National Park surrounded by another national marine reserve further north. Together these ocean sanctuaries became one of Kenya’s four biosphere reserves in May 1979.
The park and reserve contain a remarkable marine ecosystem of rock platforms, cliffs, coral reefs, lagoons, and sandy beaches which offer three major habitats. There is no continental shelf and the coastline is bordered by fringing reefs on the seaward side plunging down vertically many hundreds of metres within a short distance of the reef. Between the limestone cliffs are stretches of beautiful sandy beach. Mida Creek contains tidal mudflats with fringing mangrove swamp.
Watamu’s central motif, Whale Island, a humpbacked piece of coral opposite the entrance to the creek, is also something of a bird sanctuary. The coral gardens are breathtaking, and scuba divers delight in the discoveries deep below where brilliantly-coloured fish swarm to eat out of their hands. For non-divers, glass-bottomed boats give a splendid view.
TANA RIVER DELTA
The Tana is Kenya's largest river, nearly 1,014 km long. The headsprings for the Tana are found on the slopes of Mount Kenya and the Aberdare Mountains. These tumbling streams converge into a wide and powerful torrent to the east of these mountains before changing nature yet again, into a slow, meandering river for the lower half of its course to the Indian Ocean.
This lower part of the Tana dissects a wild and vast area of Kenya, where the riverine strip makes a vivid contrast to the parched bush stretching for miles on either side. From the Kora National Reserve onwards, the Tana is the only supply of water in an endless sea of dry bush, rocky soil and little rainfall. It is not until the river passes Hola, and approaches the coastline, that the surrounding countryside becomes greener and less stark.
The only home of the Hunter's antelope, a hartebeest with lyre-shaped horns, is on the east bank of the river, near Hola and stretching in a band to the Somali border. The Arawale Game Reserve has been gazetted to protect this rare antelope.
Continuing the journey down to the ocean, the river passes through Wenje, Garsen and some of East Africa's last remaining rainforests. This 64 km area is home to two rare animals, unique to this area of Kenya: the red Colobus monkey and the crested Mangabey monkey. Both of these primates are predominantly found in Western, not Eastern, Africa. The Tana River Primate Reserve protects these primates, but this habitat is threatened by the increase of agriculture.
Past Garsen, the river flood plains open into a wide, grassy delta extending to the Indian Ocean. The delta area is low, flat and crisscrossed with tidal channels, savanna grasslands, stands of doum palm trees and swamps. Small, narrow channels, the color of milky coffee, meander through thick green jungle which suddenly opens into small villages, where herd boys bring their cattle to drink and women wash clothes in the water, despite the ever-constant threat of crocodiles.
Hippos wallow in shallow pools; reedbuck, topi, buffalo, bushbuck and elephant roam the grassy clearings. The Tana delta is most famous however, for its prolific bird life, featuring huge flocks of egrets, pelicans, ibis and storks on every sandbank. Beautifully colored bee-eaters, hornbills and kingfishers are a constant delight to the eye.
Finally the river pours its silt-rich, chocolate waters into the Indian Ocean at Formosa Bay, a huge sweep of deserted beach, which stretches into the horizon on both sides of the delta.
This isolated region is a truly unique location, where the great inland wilderness of the North meets the beauty of the coast. The Tana delta is a place of spectacular panoramic views, encompassing a scrubland teeming with game and birds and the endless rolling sands of deserted beaches.
Here you can experience the best of both worlds, spending the morning exploring a river filled with hippo and crocodile by canoe, and swimming in the blue waters of the Indian Ocean in the afternoon.
This is the perfect destination for those looking for a safari with a difference.
The Tana River Delta is best accessed by road (a 3 hour drive) from Malindi. There is an airstrip for private charters. The only available accommodation in this area is at the Tana Delta Camp, where boats are available for travel upriver. This is an excellent place for walking.
|
, 
& 
merchants.