East African Safari

After breakfast and collecting our luggage we went down to Reception paid the bill and waited for our Taxi driver to come and collect us for our onward trip to Malindi. We had agreed a good price with him for transporting us. The journey was uneventful, though the roads were not very good but not as bad as the roads to Pangani or Ngorongoro. The trip took one and three quarters of an hour, on the outskirts of Mombasa were the usual shanty towns but nearing Malindi the scenery was stunning, it almost resembled a rain forest and set on either side of the road were a continuous smattering of villages, it was all green and verdant.

Arriving in Malindi the driver had to ask directions to the Driftwood Hotel, once we were on the right track we passed many small hotels and growing on either side was bougainvillea in the usual variety of colours found everywhere in Kenya. An Askari opened the gate for us and we were very pleased when we saw the hotel it was all so beautiful. The rooms were individually built small bungalows as bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms, the beds had mosquito nets suspended from the ceiling above them, with a small terrace to the front, the roofs thatched with coconut palm fronds. In the main building is a Reception area to one side, a lounge area with a bar open on all sides looking out onto the garden, swimming pool and on the other side of a wall the Indian Ocean then there is a dining room open to the front.

We sat down and ordered a beer and a snack ordered from the bar for lunch. At 4.00pm the tide was in and we went for a swim the water was as warm as a bath. The tide begins to go out early in the morning until it comes to a coral reef which is way out, then it turns and comes in again. The sea is almost up to the hotel wall and the beach is engulfed by the sea. Afterwards we lay in the sun but there was a stiff breeze, we ordered tea as you would have done in the days of yore. After getting dressed we went for a brisk walk along the beach, it was great to get some exercise. As we were on half board we had to have what was on the menu board for dinner, it was very good. On going to bed we were told that a tea tray would be brought and left outside our bedroom if we wanted it.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 9th, 2003 at 2:06 pm and is filed under East Africa. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.