My web journal just turned a month old last week with 11 published articles. I know this might not be much of an achievement but I just want it out there, for we do not celebrate our kids birthdays when they get to understand the concept of time, we celebrate them when they are too young to have cake let alone understand what it means to be older, like this journal here-coming of age.
To immortalize this, I decided to write about a town that influenced me to start this journey, a city which is a vacation spot for many people, a city that has become my second home, a city that most people have misconceptions about, a city rich in cultural and religious diversity, Kenya’s real city under the sun, Mombasa.
Let’s say you save up some money and decide to head down to coasto because the doctor said you need a vacation to relax since all the worrying and pressure from life is slowly killing you. So you pack up a suitcase and a duffle bag, call all your friends and let them know you are not going to be around for a week, you check in with the neighbor you trust and tell them to check up on your house while you’re away and promise to bring them coconuts from Mombasa because some Nairobians are just fascinated by them. Since as Mombasa is neither Narok nor Kariandusi, you decide you have to get to Mombasa in the right way- by train, you have to experience the hyped Madaraka Express. So you close up your quarters and uber to Syokimau SGR Terminus with your luggage and board your afternoon train to the sandy beaches. The journey is just surreal, despite the fact that you chose to ride the economy class, you get to experience the SGR puffery, you are not really a wildlife and green scenery person so you pull out your laptop and Google fun activities to do while in Mombasa, thousands of pages pop up and you spend the rest of the journey day dreaming. Long story, short, you get to Mombasa and check in to your hotel, the next couple of days you visit the beaches, you get to know the difference between south coast and north coast, you eat native Swahili dishes and you also get to see beautiful Swahili and Arab women who make you question your decision to quit the gym.
You get to Explore Mombasa’s Old Town, Visit Fort Jesus, Enjoy Nature at Its Peak at Haller Park, Photograph the Mombasa Tusks & Take a Stroll in the Nearby Park, Spend an Afternoon at Mama Ngina Drive, Relax on Pirates Beach and Enjoy Fresh Seafood, Go For a Boat Ride at Tudor Water-Sports and Restaurant, Take a Ferry Ride, Go Cruising in a Tamarind Dhow, Enjoy Great Food in a Fabulous Setting of The Moorings, Enjoy a Cocktail Drink at Forty Thieves Beach Bar. (Things to Do in Mombasa)
And when it finally time to go back home you leave with tales of praise and a thousand-pictures photo album for instagram and facebook, (haha) and you don’t forget a couple of coconuts for your neighbour and watchman. For the next two weeks no one can stop you from talking about the marvels of Mombasa, you even develop a fake Swahili accents to authenticate your tales.
That’s Mombasa for a domestic tourist.
Scenario two
You just got transferred from Nairobi to the coastal town for work, the notice comes in on Friday afternoon and you’re expected to report to work in Mombasa on Monday at Eight in the morning, You quickly go back home and pack up your house, you call your relative who comes to pick all your household items to store them for you until you settle down. You pack your clothes and by now you have already called your relative who lives in Mombasa and asked them if you could stay with them for a while you find your footing. You spend your Saturday finalizing matters pending in Nairobi(i.e. documents, clearing out of your apartment etc.) and book a morning bus to Mombasa for Sunday. Sunday comes and you board the bus at 9 which leaves two hours later because very few travel to Mombasa during the day, let alone on Sunday. People will always tell you how great Mombasa is but they will never emphasize how long and lethargic the journey is especially. By grace you safely get there 10 hours later due to some road construction. The relative picks you from the bus terminus,drives you to their home and helps you settle in, after a few words you resign for the night in readiness for a new life ahead .
And that is how you start your life in there.
When you move to Mombasa, everyone you know back in Nairobi or whatever the place you came from everyone starts asking whether you visit the beach every day, they imagine you live and work right next to the ocean, they think that both your office or bedroom window overlooks the majestic ocean, They also imagine you eat biryani every day and that you are accompanied by beautiful hijab-clad swahili women wherever you go. They wonder if the stories about ‘mapepo ya baharini’ are true (haha I also wonder about this).
Well, some might be this lucky to live like that but for most residents it’s harder. After the excitement dies down, which is usually after a month, swimming in the gasping waves stops floating your boat, the suns heat no longer radiates against your skin, it burns. On days that you visit the beach, you do not walk along it, you do not go and play in the sand, rather you sit in the car or under a palm tree watching the mesmeric beauty of the ocean, realizing that it is its own master, kindling its own unfinished symphony and that the wind is the midwife of the seas, serving a different master. Coastal dishes are reserved for weekends only.
The beauty remains but you also start to see the scars, traffic is horrible in Mombasa, Matatus are very uncomfortable, good houses for rent are rare, temperatures are unbearable before you get used to the heat and the smell is just horrible in some parts. But that’s what makes it what it is, it gives it character.
When I moved here, I realized I had a lot of time on my hands but that is after binge-visiting all the nice places, I needed to find something to do during my free time, so after a couple of trials and errors (six months)I decided to settle on this.
Coming Of Age
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