JAMBO!!!!
I went to Kenya!!! What a fantastic experience.......
After month of perhaps/should we/when/ can´t do those dates/ and tons of other little issues we (myself and my italian gang Benedetta, Adelaide and Dafne) finally booked flights and set our minds ready to explore Malindi, Kenya. Bene´s brother Toti runs a little Hotel down there called "La Malindina". Over the years I heard lots of stories, saw pictures and even met him on several occasions in Milan...but it just never worked out for me to go. Unbelievable, right?? Well....no need to list the reasons...fact is, we finally did it!!!
10 days of pure Paradise, I´m not kidding!!
But let me start from the beginning....once upon a time, I caught a plane from Heathrow on a rainy Saturday morning to fly to Nairobi. Not that that was my final destination, but at least a start. After an hour delay on departure, a hilarious pilot who thought he was a stand-up comedian, 2 half-watched movies and a "lovely" spanish passenger who decided to open to window next to me while I was sleeping ( hey, I saw the Sahara!!!! But still grumpy...) I arrived in Nairobi. 27 degrees on arrival , it felt like paradise already. The airport is a bit confusing, and even though I had to catch a connecting flight I had to queue up for Visa control, pick up my luggage and find my way around to finally cross a square and reach domestic departures. Little did I understand at the time, that all those guys shouting "Mombasa" at me just wanted to help me carrying my suitcase!! It took me 2 days to realise that....never mind. Kenya Airways took me for another hour flight to Mombasa (I´m still wondering what was in that Beef Sandwich...), where I arrived around midnight. 28 degress, pitch black and no clue...what a perfect situation, hey??? My driver was already waiting and after a short conversation with Toti (don´t we just LOVE mobile phones???) and a few reassuring words we were on our way pretty quickly.
The journey from Mombasa to Malindi takes approximately two hours, and the only main road that takes you down there is far from what I´ve ever seen. As it was Saturday night, there were lots of people on the road and near it having their own little gatherings. Cars and Bikes everywhere, trucks loaded to incredible heights and then there was the bush obviously. I couldn´t see much of what was off the road, but my driver pointed out town names, bigger facories and other bits and pieces to me. We even passed a burning truck and got stopped by a police control. Even though they were talking Swahili I soon understood that they were just a bit bored and knew my driver (the waves and the smiles were all very friendly). So, 2 1/2 very long hours later we finally arrived in Malindi. What a mission....but it was definitely worth it!!!!!
La Malindina is a gorgeous little hotel, I´m not even sure how many rooms there are, but once you step through the cosy Reception area you reach a confy sitting area near the pool. Low music is playing in the background and you realise that you´re sitting underneath a huge African Roof. Don´t ask me to describe it, pictures will follow 
From there you can take several small paths that take you to the bunglaows. What a stunning place, I think I was pretty confused with the journey and all so I spent the next 3 hours!! staring around being completely amazed. I received a very hearty welcome from Toti and his friends Claudio and Michele, and after a few G & T´s everything was pretty much in a perfect holiday spirit! I think it must have been close to 5 am when we finally stumbled into bed
The next morning I already found Bene, her mum and her boyfriend Stefano near the pool. Their flight had arrived very early in the morning at Mombasa.
Oh...the page is playing up again...back with more later!!!
Now, where were we??
Of course! Kenya! I´ve been back for a week now, and somehow everything feels so far back.....
2 days later the remainder of the gang arrived. I think Dada and Ade must have had a heart attack when they were approaching the Hotel at 2am and a car full of nutters (Screams, Lights and other weird noises) overtook theirs to give them a proper welcome. What a laugh!!! We obviously knew it was them (bless mobiles!! I think I said that already earlier, didn´t I??)
Once the group was complete we started exploring the area with our lovely red Toyota. There are so many things to see!! The first day we went to Rosada, a little beach area about 5 minutes from the hotel, enough sand to have a proper walk, umbrellas (for those like me that arrived there almost transparent...), a small restaurant and not really many people. It turned out, that this time of the year is when the rainy season approaches, and there really aren´t many tourists.
Fair enough, there are a few more people on here....I think it must have been Easter Sunday or Monday and those days were kind of full-er. Never mind. But let me tell you about Watamu and the worst sunburn I had in a loooong time. Give or take 20 minutes from Malindi is Watamu. Well, you need to drive down the main road until a police road block, then you´re in Gede. Turn left and keep on driving staight on past a market, 2 schools, a Swiss(???) restaurant, lots of gorgeous trees and then you take a left again. We spent 20 minutes trying to find the right road that would take us to the sea....ha ha ha...we even managed to loose our exhaust, so at the end we went via a Hotel entrance. Watamu is a gorgeous bay, with stone formations that look like mushrooms when the water is low.
Dada would disappear for hours swimming in her "personal pool" and I managed to get completely and utterly burned. No clue how that happened, but by the time this picture was taken and we had a 10 minute torrential rain storm I couldn´t even stand up straight anymore. I should be sponsored by a brand that makes aftersun cream...honestly, the litres of that stuff I used the following days....countless!!! Thank to Tata-Patty and her magic Spanish Aftersun things got better soon, but I needed a bit of excitement, right?
A few days later we went to this remote place called Che Shale (forgive me if I got the spelling wrong.....) Apparently there are only 2 ways of getting there.... 1. jump over a dune and drive along the beach or 2. take the land-road, which is very sandy and jumpy and not a good idea at all. Well, this is what I got told.. So, there is us on the way there
Over the dune and hey, you´re on a massive beach...take a left and just keep on driving......what an incredible experience......
And driving.....
Until you arrive.....
The house you see is a small restaurant, gorgeously decorated on the inside, and on the left of it are a serie of small bungalows where you can stay overnight if you want. Of course, there is also the possibility of doing Kite. Claudio was trying his luck that day as well....too bad the wind really wasn´t good enough!!!! After one of the most memorable scenes of the entirely holiday.... Dada, sai bene di cosa sto parlando??!!! src="http://www.ziatitina.com/my-page/smilies/happy.gif"> we all settled and passed out for most of the day. The beach just seems never ending and once you look closer at the sand it´s all golden and sparkly. I don´t think I´ve ever seen something like that before!!!!
Let´s do a little game.... Find me on this picture!!
Let me give you a hint: the top spot! src="http://www.ziatitina.com/my-page/smilies/happy.gif"> Best sleep I ever had on the beach, that´s for sure!!!!!!! The return to Malindi turned out to be even more interesting.....the water had risen almost to the maximum and we were speeding along the beach, trying to avoid all sorts of things. The car was going a bit crazy, next time we need a bigger car!!!!!!
A BIG Thank You to our driver Ste, who was veeeeeeeery chuffed about his skills when we finally got back on the road.....
Let me add a few mixed impressions ....
Isn´t this just pure bliss??? A glass of wine, feet in the pool, a cigarette, your close friends around you.....no need to say much more.
To be continued.......
A few days later we went on a boat trip to explore the coastline. Due to the tide, we had to be there rather early, paid our entry fee and then walked across the reef to our boat "Alipenda". Sweet, isn´t she? After about half an hour, or perhaps a little bit more we reached an area, not too far from the coast, that looked like your own personal swimming pool. Useless to mention that we immediately went exploring the area.
We had a picnic on the boat around lunch time, killed a bottle of wine and just had a very good time. Slowly the tide came up, so sometime in the afternoon we went back to Malindi.
I´m still waiting on some more pictures, hopefully I can update these soon!