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WATAMU |
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After Gedi, WATAMU seems fairly superficial. It consists simply of a
small agglomeration of hotels, a strip of beachfront private homes, a
compact coconut village of hotelis and curio stands, and the beach . It
tends to cater for package holidaymakers staying in the large hotels
along it, but there's still plenty for the backpacker - beautiful
beaches, a superb marine park and lively young nightlife. Watamu is well
used to tourists: making friends is easy, and you can look around the
village without being too badly pestered. As the beach is part of the
marine park, KWS regulations have recently been enforced to clear beach
boys and hawkers off the beach.
Although one or two of the hotels are very pleasant, the beach and the
coral offshore are the main justification for visiting Watamu.
Fortunately, they are justification enough. This is an exceptional
shoreline, with three stunning bays - Watamu Bay, the Blue Lagoon and
Turtle Bay - separated by raised coral cliffs and dotted with tiny,
sculpted coral islets scuttled over by crabs. If you like beach walks,
bring a pair of rubber or plastic-soled sandals - the coral rock is
sharp. Out in the Watamu Marine National Park , the submerged crags of
living coral gardens are - despite all the visits in glass-bottom boats
- as vivid and magically perfect as they must have been for millennia.
And, despite the high profile of tourism here, there's an easier-going
atmosphere than at, say, Diani or Malindi, with fewer security problems
than at Malindi and the coastline north and south of Mombasa. Watamu is
a good place to go diving - or to learn the skill, with at least three
diving schools offering one-off dives or approved courses at standard
rates. It's worth knowing, however, that from June to October seaweed is
often swept onto the beach and the sea can be murky, while in July it's
often too rough to snorkel or dive anyway.
Among environmental initiatives, one that many hotels participate in,
and individual tourists can contribute to, is Watamu Turtle Watch (PO
Box 125 tel 0122/32118, fax 32280, wtwkenya@swiftmalindi.com), a project
to protect the eggs of threatened marine turtles from poaching (in both
senses) by paying local people to guard nests. The same group also pays
fishermen to hand in turtles that have become ensnared in fishing nets
for rerelease into the sea, and individuals can sponsor a nest for
guarding or a turtle for release. Turtle Watch is informed when nests
they are gaurding hatch, so if you contact them, you may be able to go
and see the baby turtles scuttling down the sand from their nest into
the sea.
Getting to Watamu is easy, with frequent matatus making the run from
Malindi. Buses and matatus between Mombasa or Kilifi and Malindi will
drop you at the Gedi junction, leaving you to walk, hitch, wait for a
matatu, or take a taxi for the last 6km. The road from Gedi and the
junction is dead straight. Just before Watamu, it passes the settlement
of Timboni , with three speed humps; just down an alley to the left (east)
of the road by the third hump, the Women's Health Centre sells excellent
handmade neem soap, using coconut oil and extracts derived from the neem
tree. Introduced into this part of Kenya from India, the neem has
numerous medicinal properties and its leaves are used as a natural
mosquito repellent.
Coming into Watamu itself, the road from Gedi passes the post office (Mon-Fri
8am-12.30pm & 2-5pm) before it hits the beach road, which matatus scud
up and down all the time. Just north of the junction, behind the post
office is a supermarket with, next door, a very pricey internet office.
If you continue up the beach road a little way past the turning for the
supermarket, a road off to the right takes you into Watamu village .
Just under a kilometre beyond that, on the left, a superb little reptile
park , Bio-Ken (daily 9am-noon & 2-5pm; Ksh300), breeds green and black
mambas for anti-venom, and houses a large collection of snakes, plus a
few tortoises and a token croc, and you'll be guided round by someone
who actually knows a bit about the scaly slitherers.
A right turn at the beach road junction brings you to four main resort
hotels - Blue Bay Village, Ocean Sports, Hemingways and Turtle Bay -
twenty or thirty private homes and, at the end of the narrow bar along
which the road runs, the marine park ticket office. And that's Watamu.
Watamu village
Watamu village is a weird mixture of unhurried fishing community and
frenzied Germanophile souvenir centre. The traditional rubs elbows with
the pseudo-hip; Samburu and Maasai morani in full ochred splendour stand
around waiting for photographers (and potential female customers); the
Jamia Mosque has a notice which reads "All Muslims are Well Come for
Prayers. No Trespass. By Management."
The centre of the village is a small square at the end of the tarmac
road, with a couple of curio shops. The square's main purpose seems to
be to allow the curio-stand owners to size up the latest punters as they
arrive (German and Swiss tourists on their way to the Watamu Beach Hotel
pass this way). But the pressure to buy is relatively subdued and after
a couple of visits down here your face, and dress, become known and you
can go about your business with a nod and a smile. Not that there's
anything much to be done; apart from a few bars and restaurants, there's
little to keep you from the beach. There's also no longer a bank in town
- if you need to change money, the safari operators will usually oblige.
Mama Lucy's supermarket sells, among other things, honey from Arabuko-Sokoke
Forest.
There are a couple of good restaurants on the road into the village.
Ascot Hotel caters mainly to Italians, and has a superb wood-fired pizza
oven, and wine at moderate prices; the Dante is usually very enjoyable,
reasonably priced, and has cheap beer. For bars and nightlife , try the
Happy Night Club and the Come Back Club , both popular and open till
late. More dubious are Watamu Stockists and Ujamaa Bar & Restaurant ,
essentially pick-up joints posing as a hoteli and a pub; the former is
very lively, sometimes bordering on rough, shows dodgy kung fu and B-movies
and serves lightly spiced Swahili food.
Bicycle rental is offered by a number of outlets, especially in high
season when it gets quite competitive (Ksh300-600 per day, depending on
season and number of days). Bikes are a great way of getting to know
Watamu, with the Gedi ruins and anywhere on the beach road easily
reachable in thirty minutes or so.
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