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VANGA |
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Kenya's southernmost town, VANGA is also the largest of the coastal
settlements to have been left alone by the tourist industry. Getting
here involves travelling down one of the country's most beautiful, and
usually deserted, roads, from the Shimoni junction to Lungalunga, on the
Tanzanian border. The seventeen-kilometre murram road to Vanga begins,
curiously, midway through the Kenyan border post at Lungalunga, where
you have to explain your purpose to the officials. There are a couple of
lodgings here - Muthangini Border Lodge (under Ksh500) and Thomas Bar (under
Ksh500) - but nothing of interest. Turning left, the track skims the
Tanzanian border through shambas and, as it nears the sea, tunnels
through tall forest in deep shade. Vanga itself is in the mangroves ,
approached through the swamp down a causeway which is regularly flooded
by spring tides.
The largish village has a main street and a number of stores and hotelis
, where men come in the evening to chew miraa and reflect on the
community's isolation. "We have no employment", is a common complaint;
the fishing co-operative is the only local provider of a cash income,
but it isn't always able to buy the entire catch and members are not
supposed to sell to anyone else. Many people sell garden produce in
Mombasa, which explains the matatu departures through the night to
ensure early arrival at the markets.
Most people are unlikely to come to Vanga as there isn't anywhere to
stay in the town or anything much to do. The big old house on the
seafront is a nineteenth-century British customs house, cared for, in
theory, by the National Museums of Kenya but in practice falling down.
For the less fastidious, dugout canoes can be rented very cheaply for
wobbly punting trips through the mangroves. Vanga is a sure antidote to
a surfeit of Diani and Malindi: local residents are more than willing to
accommodate visitors and you may be plied with excellent palm wine
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