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MOMBASA |
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Kenya's second city can come as a revelation. There's a depth of
history here, and a sense of community which Nairobi lacks. And, whereas
Nairobi has very clear boundaries between rich and poor districts,
things are less clearly defined in Mombasa. Sleazy, hot - you're always
thirsty - and physically tropical in a way that could hardly be more
different from the capital, MOMBASA is the slightly indolent hub of the
coast - a faded, flaking, occasionally charming city that still feels,
despite its gentle sprawl, like a small town that was once great.
Mombasa is actually an island, connected to the mainland by two
causeways to the west, and by a bridge to the north, but still linked
only by ferry to the south. The city is intricate and its streets
wriggle deceptively. At its appealing heart is the Old Town , a lattice
of lanes, mosques and cramped, old houses sloping gently down to the
once-busy dhow harbour. Fort Jesus , an impressive reminder of Mombasa's
complicated, bloody past, still overlooks the Old Town from where it
once guarded the harbour entrance. It's now a national monument and
museum.
Clustered all around you, within easy walking distance, is the whole
expanse of downtown, modern Mombasa, with its wide streets and
refreshing lack of high-rise buildings (though their number is steadily
growing). While you won't doubt it's a chaotic city - there are no
traffic lights left in working order for example - the atmosphere, even
in the commercial centre of one of Africa's busiest ports, is invariably
relaxed and congenial. Rush hours, urgency and paranoia seem to be
Nairobi's problems (as everyone here will tell you), not Mombasa's. And
the gaping, marginal slums that one expects to find outside African
cities hardly exist here. True, Likoni and especially Changamwe, on the
mainland, are burgeoning suburbs that the municipality has more or less
abandoned, but the brutalizing conditions of the Mathare Valley, Kibera
and Korogocho shantytowns in Nairobi are absent.
Despite the palms, the sunshine and the happy languor, all is not bliss
and perfection. Street crime , though it hardly approaches Nairobi's
level, is still a problem, and you should be wary of displaying your
valuables or accepting invitations to walk down dark alleys. Likoni
ferry and the area around the junction of Jomo Kenyatta Avenue with
Mwembe Tayeri Road are two hotspots for pickpocketing and bag snatching,
so be particularly wary in those places. But, as a general rule, Mombasa
is a far less neurotic city than Nairobi and, in stark contrast to the
capital, there's nowhere in the centre that could be considered a no-go
area. One indication of this is that the city stays awake much later.
Climatic considerations may partly explain it but, at an hour when
central Nairobi is empty but for taxis and askaris , Mombasans are to be
seen strolling in the warm night, old men conversing on the benches in
Digo Road, and many shops are still open. The small-town freedoms remain
healthy here and it all adds up to a city that is richly satisfying and
rewarding to stay in.
Ethnically , Mombasa is perhaps even more diverse than Nairobi. Asian
and Arab influence is particularly pervasive, with fifty mosques and
dozens of Hindu and Sikh temples lending a strongly Oriental flavour.
Still, the largest contingent speaks Swahili as a first language and it
is the Swahili civilization that, more than any other, accounts for
Mombasa's distinctive character. You'll see women wearing head-to-foot
buibuis or brilliant kanga outfits, men decked out in kanzu gowns and
hip-slung kikoi wraps. The smaller community of settlers and European
expatriates figures less prominently here than in Nairobi, but it
continues to wield disproportionate economic and social clout.
As a tourist town, Mombasa doesn't go out of its way to please. Indeed,
one of its best qualities is its utter lack of pretension. It is
principally a port: Kilindini harbour takes up most of the western side
of the island. Increasingly, too, Mombasa is an industrial city,
boasting one of East Africa's major oil refineries (on your right as you
arrive by train). In short, Mombasa is not a resort. Visiting sailors
are as important to its tourist economy as bona fide tourists, and (a
grievous shortcoming) the island has no real beaches. The vast majority
of the obvious tourists that you'll see around the place are here only
for the purpose of a shopping trip from their North or South coast beach
hotels. You may not be able to resist the lure of the beaches for too
long, but Mombasa deserves a little of your time unless you are in a big
hurry; there are few places in the country with such a strong sense of
identity.
The City
Mombasa is not a city with a huge number of sights, but most visitors
will want to check out its main one, Fort Jesus, in the shadow of which
lies Mombasa's Old Town, still a charming hive of narrow lanes, mosques
and carved Swahili doorways. In the modern town centre, the tusks that
feature on so many postcards are not wildly exciting, though fans of
1930s architecture might appreciate one or two of the buildings from
that era on Digo Road. Further afield, there's a baobab forest and a
seventeenth-century pillar tomb which are worth a visit
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