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NYALI |
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Nyali, the comfortable suburb of Mombasa closest to the town, has a
few minor items of interest of its own - apart from three of the North
Coast's main hotels. It was the site of Johan Ludwig Krapf 's first
missionary toehold on the east coast, four years before Livingstone
arrived in Africa. Krapf reached Nyali with his wife and baby daughter
in May 1844. His wife died of malaria on July 13, their baby the next
day. The pathetic graves - still carefully tended by parishioners of St
Peter's Church, Nyali - are to be found at the end of the road leading
past the Tamarind Restaurant and a couple of cement silos. Opposite, on
a small knoll, is the stone Krapf Memorial .
There's another reminder of Mombasa's history in the site of the
Freretown Bell , at the Nyali Road junction. The bell was erected by the
Society of Freed Slaves in the 1880s to warn the people of Freretown (named
after Sir Bartle Frere, who founded the freed slave community here) of
any impending attack by Arab slavers. The district still has inhabitants
who trace the roots of their freed-slave ancestors back to Malawi and
Zambia. The bell hung silently under its small stone arch until the
1920s when it was removed for safekeeping to the nearby Emmanuel Church
(Freretown's parish church, erected in 1889), where it is still in use.
The bell you see at the Nyali Road junction is a plastic replica.
Behind Nyali Beach and the hotels, you can't miss Mamba Village on Links
Road (daily 8am-6.30pm; Ksh450, children Ksh250). Nothing to do with
poisonous snakes, this is the biggest crocodile ( mamba ) farm in Kenya,
with hefty entry fees to the "crocodile trail" and film show. A series
of semi-natural pools, created in a disused quarry, houses many
thousands of crocodiles at all stages of growth (and a special freaks
sideshow of congenitally deformed croc-lets - not a pleasant sight). The
overall effect - with "croco-burgers" in the snack bar, the 5pm
Pavlovian bell-ring feedings, and unlimited saurian souvenirs - is tacky
in the extreme, and the crocodile trail sits uneasily with the
skin-farming half of the "village", which is not on show. Also part of
the empire is the adjacent Botanical Garden and Aquarium (daily 9am-6pm;
Ksh150, children Ksh70), which includes a thirty-minute guided walk
around its snake park and gardens, specializing, no great surprise, in
the weirdest things they could find, including carnivorous plants and
"fishes which blow up for not being eaten" (ie puffer fish). Also here
is the Mamba International Nightclub . Further down Links Road, the
Mamba outfit now also offers horse riding (daily 8-11am & 3-6pm; 1hr
beach trips Ksh950; better-value lessons at Ksh2900 for ten 30min
stints, or Ksh3900 for ten hour-long rides).
Across the road from Mamba Village is Nyali Golf and Country Club (PO
Box 95678 tel 011/471589), a stuffy sort of place that doesn't go out of
its way to welcome non-members. They maintain a dress code for men
(shirts with collars, socks) in return for which they offer an ordinary
swimming pool, squash, tennis (Ksh11,600 for a week's membership) and,
of course, golf (free for members, Ksh2400-2600 for non-members, or
Ksh1200-1300 if playing with a Nyali Club member; caddy Ksh130 for nine
holes). A restaurant of the reliable Minar group has opened next door,
specializing in Mughlai cuisine (daily; complimentary hotel shuttle
service; tel 011/471220).
The main public access to the beach at Nyali is right by the entrance to
Nyali Beach Hotel . It gets pretty busy at weekends. One oddity a little
way south is a cave containing a natural lingam (phallic representation
of the Hindu god Shiva) in the form of a stalacmite, plus a natural rock
formation resembling Shiva's son, the elephant-headed Hindu god Ganesh.
The area is maintained as a temple by the local Hindu Union, but
visitors are welcome (remove shoes when entering the temple cave) and
the site includes a pleasant ledge overlooking the ocean and a roofless
cave containing two more Shiva lingam stalacmites. The story attached to
the cave tells of a certain cow who was in the habit of rubbing her
udders on the stalacmite to exude milk (pouring milk on the lingam is a
way of worshipping Shiva). Her herder, afraid that the cow would damage
her udders, hit her to get her to stop, upon which he was attacked by a
swarm of bees. Admitted to hospital, he was treated by an Indian doctor
who, hearing the story, decided to investigate, and was amazed to
discover the Ganesh rock and the Shiva lingam .
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