My Summer at ICIPE in Kenya: The Kenyan Coast

So I am sure you are curious about my coastal experiences! The bus ride there took about 12 hours. When Googled, this should have only taken about 8 hours, however, roads here are not like back home. They are very narrow and I am still not sure what the definite speed limit is, but there is a lot of passing. Also, buses are a bit harder to maneuver I am sure, and we had some short stops along the way. Thankfully I slept quite a bit on the way there.

We actually stayed in a town called Malindi. This is a town that is about two hours away from Mombasa, but there is a stingless bee apiary nearby and it is also a safer town. I stayed at a hotel called “Scorpio Villas” with a lot of other tourists (I think they were Italians, lots of “Ciao”). It was a very nice hotel for what I was paying except that my laptop never connected to internet. I had candle-lit dinners accompanied by live music with a full dinner buffet and a breakfast buffet. There were at least three pools I could have swum in, with two right outside my room. I had a nice King bed in my room and a day bed and sofa set on my balcony. As I am sure you can guess, I really liked it there!

I was planning to see the apiary there to look at the bees and talk to some of the farmers, but there was some unexpected rain and the roads weren’t cooperating with my plans. So sadly, I was unable to see my coastal bees and try some of their honey but I had a nice time in Malindi none the less.

We decided to check out a museum and some stores while it was raining. When it wasn’t raining, I went to a column that was constructed by a Portuguese explorer. I can’t think of his name off the top of my head, but he is similar to Columbus. I also went to the beach where the sand sparkled! Literally. There is a river that empties into the ocean and the silt/ soil of that river is what makes this particular beach sparkle. It looks like a fairy exploded on the shores and it feels a bit fairytale like. I really liked it J I also got a henna tattoo, but I will post pictures later J

Right before the last showers, I was able to visit a river with Mangrove trees. Now, before I tell you this story, I will tell you I am terrified of heights. Standing three steps up a ladder is scary to me. I am also wary of steep steps and unstable things like floating boardwalks. Now, to be in the mangrove trees, you walk across a rope bridge. A very swingy, creaky, gappy road bridge. I could see the ground between every plank of wood. There were kids there who could run across the things, but I went very slow. But this was a big accomplishment for me, and personally, I was very proud of myself! Because this was a long bridge but worth it. After, we took a boat back to the shores and headed home before it started raining too hard.

Malindi was also one of the first places I saw some Massai men. These men are part of a tribe who still lives traditionally. They would be like our Native Americans, but if ours still wore the traditional clothes every day. These are the people you see with lots of beaded accessories, clothes that look a bit like tied blankets, and they carry staffs and swords! They are really pretty neat looking, but I wasn’t able to get a picture. I always saw them while in a car and I could take the picture fast enough to capture them. I would just get a blurry picture of the background he was standing.

I left Malindi at 7:00 that next morning, and I was back in Nairobi about 6:30 ish. I wasn’t able to take many pictures on the bus because of tinted windows, but I was able to see about 8 giraffes in the wild! Sometimes, we would pass a place that would remind me of home. It would have cornfields and cows and just tiny little hills. But then I would see a mud hut or a Zebra and I would remember I am in Kenya. And that is a bit of my coastal story J