Mombasa by Moonlight

Almost two weeks in Mombasa and I spent so much of it working that most of my leisure time was at night under a full Mombasa moon.

In December, Mombasa is hot and steamy.  The long rains are far in the past in May, but sharp showers of rain come down every few days and make it even steamier.  We stayed inside most afternoons after work, savouring the aircon in our rooms and emerged at 7 into the cooler evening.  On the rooftop of our hotel we could sit by the pool and have a drink and dinner and relax after the tension of the day of training.

A few nights we saw moonrise over the city - a huge, orange full moon appearing from behind the buildings like the dome of a mosque, while the muezzins chanted from the 5 mosques around our hotel.  Mombasa is a  very Muslim city, especially the Island where we were staying, but just across the road, there are two beautiful Hindu temples, and the Cathedrals brush shoulders with the mosques.

Instead of eating at the hotel every night, we tried out some more adventurous ways of eating.  Next to the hotel is a street cafe where the tables are brought out at night and patrons sit on the pavement and are served  at long tables by cheerful young waiters who tell you the menu and remember exactly what you have ordered.  We ate mishkaki, which is a beef kebab cooked on an open fire right there on the pavement, tikka chicken, masala chips, chappati filled with meat and egg and katchambari which is a salad of lettuce and carrots.  Drinks come in a crate and you have a straw - no glasses.  While you eat, you are interrupted by street vendors selling the usual goods from China - pens and key rings and sunglasses - and also Hazard triangles.  The tuk-tuks buzz around the corner, dicing with the 4x4s and matatus and hand carts carrying water for sale in 50l black plastic barrels.  There is even a "drive through" - cars stop at the corner, shout their orders out of the window and wait for the food to be delivered to the car, wrapped in paper and a plastic bag.  The food is delicious and service is quick - the food doesn't all come at once, but it's hot and delicious and you tuck in to all the different dishes as you want to.

On my birthday we took a taxi to another pavement restaurant called Mubins, which is a bit more "upmarket" if sitting at a fold up table on a busy streetside can be called "upmarket".  At the table next to us were a whole lot of from the Aga Khan Academy, having an end-of-term outing.  The street is very narrow and their bus blocked all the traffic as everyone tried to negotiate around it - reality-entertainment.  They served amazing food but no desert, so we found our way to Shennai for kulfi (Indian icecream to die for) but somehow ended up doing Mombasa-by-night on foot.  A few hairy experiences - matatu drivers screaming and trying to get us to take their taxis, a beggar sliding out of the shadows next to me, street kids begging for money and refusing to leave us - and eventually we got back to our hotel hot and sticky but having walked the calories of the night off.

We visited Shennai twice more - got lost on the way there the first time and then by the third night, we were able to walk there and back without any trouble.

Two daytime adventures too - a visit to Biashara street to buy kikoyis and kitenges - fabric shirts and wraps - and then a drive around the Old Town with the driver from Eaqel - Nazeer - who lives in the Old town and could take us all over the place along narrow one-way streets just wide enough for a small car - and we were in a big Nissan bakkie.  Fascinating to see the parts of the Old Town not on the tourist beat.

I wasn't sad to leave the heat, but for the rest, a few more days in Mombasa would have been bliss.  A bustling small city where everyone respects each other - where churches, mosques and temples nestle next to each other, where drivers give way to each other, where refugees are accepted and integrated into the community, where you can buy anything on the side of the road, and the moon rises over the buildings like a beacon.  I can't wait to go back.