Kenya
Port of Lamu
I didn't spend as much time as I would have liked in Kenya. I had
given it a short shrift because of negative commentary from other
travellers, though I should have learned long ago not to give that kind
of word of mouth more weight than it deserves. Kenya is
ethnically, religiously, topographically, and economically diverse, a
real African melting pot. You have muslim swahili arabs in the
east, maasai tribespeople in the south, poor bantu farmers in the west,
feral nilo-silotic tribespeople in the inaccessible north as freaky as
any you'll find in the world, worldly yuppie businessmen in Nairobi,
and with a smattering of Indians and Europeans in the big cities to
boot. It controls supply lanes inland to all of landlocked central
Africa, dominates East African manufacturing and finance, and runs the
most important port on the entire east coast of Africa. Only
corruption and incompetent governance it seems has kept Kenya from
being the economic engine for all of black Africa. Impoverished
migrants from all over Africa are drawn to the posh affluence of
Nairobi's central business district with its glass skyscrapers like
ants are drawn to bread crumbs. Or perhaps I should say like
mosquitoes are drawn to blood. The soaring crime rate has scared
away travellers and forced those who must pass through Nairobi to
hunker down in secured villas like in Johannesburg. I heard of a
couple of Japanese backpackers who were mugged and robbed in central
Nairobi in the early evening while I was there. What the
crime capitals Johannesburg and Nairobi have in common is a stark
juxtaposition of highly visible and wealthy bourgeois class, with a
penniless impoverished class living in the same city. This is the
motor that generates crime. In poor countries where nobody has
anything, like in Niger or Malawi, there is almost no crime. In
countries where almost everybody has money, like in Norway or Japan,
there is almost no crime. But put the two together and the
bullets fly.
The island of Lamu on the Swahili coast is probably the star cultural
attraction of Kenya, combined with wildlife safaris and Mount Kenya for
the trekkers. Lamu's a cozier, more intimate and languid version
of Zanzibar. Lamu may be more African and less arabian than
Zanzibar, but no less conservative in its muslim values.
These turtles are probably too bored in Lamu to do anything else, but
clearly they are not muslim in the modesty of their ways.
As for this Lamu donkey rubbing up against the telephone booth...well,
let's not go there...
The ruins of Gede in the jungle between the beach resort town of
Malindi and the coastal port hub of Mombasa was pretty
impressive. It's probably the most complex ancient city
I've seen built by prehistoric Bantu Africans, but nothing is really
known about its origins, so it could also have been built by dolphins
or aliens for all we know. I would have lingered longer but I was
suddenly attacked by a legion of aggressive biting ants that had
crawled into my pants and into my underwear so I had to run to the
nearest bathroom, rip off my pants and one by one pluck out each
individual ant that had burrowed its head into my flesh. I have
to concur about Kenya being a dangerous country!
The famous tusks of Mombasa, built to commemorate Queen Elizabeth's
visit in 1952. It's a little hokey but I like them. Anything to
add character to what are often bland looking cities in sub-Saharan
Africa.
The Indian diaspora is present and well in Mombasa, the bustling
multicultural port city reminiscent of Dar es Salaam. Indian hindus,
muslims, sikhs and jains all have their own temples here, not to
mention places of worship for every denomination of all the other
muslims and christians and God knows whats living in Mombasa. I'm
not sure if I've ever seen a more openly and religiously diverse city
as Mombasa. Even in London or New York you don't see such
intimate intermingling within neighbourhoods.
I often don't find British colonial architecture very thrilling in
comparison to their Spanish or Portuguese colonial rivals (for
example), but in Mombasa, it blends in well with the surroundings and
neighbouring buildings. I found Mombasa quite an enjoyable city
to walk around in.