Kenya's second city can come as a
revelation. There's a depth of
history here, and a sense of
community which Nairobi lacks. And,
whereas Nairobi has very clear
boundaries between rich and poor
districts, things are less clearly
defined in Mombasa. Sleazy, hot -
you're always thirsty - and
physically tropical in a way that
could hardly be more different from
the capital,
MOMBASA is the
slightly indolent hub of the coast -
a faded, flaking, occasionally
charming city that still feels,
despite its gentle sprawl, like a
small town that was once great.
Mombasa is actually an island,
connected to the mainland by two
causeways to the west, and by a
bridge to the north, but still
linked only by ferry to the south.
The city is intricate and its
streets wriggle deceptively. At its
appealing heart is the Old Town
, a lattice of lanes, mosques and
cramped, old houses sloping gently
down to the once-busy dhow harbour. Fort
Jesus , an impressive reminder
of Mombasa's complicated, bloody
past, still overlooks the Old Town
from where it once guarded the
harbour entrance. It's now a
national monument and museum.
Clustered all around you, within
easy walking distance, is the whole
expanse of downtown, modern Mombasa,
with its wide streets and refreshing
lack of high-rise buildings (though
their number is steadily growing).
While you won't doubt it's a chaotic
city - there are no traffic lights
left in working order for example -
the atmosphere, even in the
commercial centre of one of Africa's
busiest ports, is invariably relaxed
and congenial. Rush hours, urgency
and paranoia seem to be Nairobi's
problems (as everyone here will tell
you), not Mombasa's. And the gaping,
marginal slums that one expects to
find outside African cities hardly
exist here. True, Likoni and
especially Changamwe, on the
mainland, are burgeoning suburbs
that the municipality has more or
less abandoned, but the brutalizing
conditions of the Mathare Valley,
Kibera and Korogocho shantytowns in
Nairobi are absent.
Despite the palms, the sunshine
and the happy languor, all is not
bliss and perfection. Street
crime , though it hardly
approaches Nairobi's level, is still
a problem, and you should be wary of
displaying your valuables or
accepting invitations to walk down
dark alleys. Likoni ferry and the
area around the junction of Jomo
Kenyatta Avenue with Mwembe Tayeri
Road are two hotspots for
pickpocketing and bag snatching, so
be particularly wary in those
places. But, as a general rule,
Mombasa is a far less neurotic city
than Nairobi and, in stark contrast
to the capital, there's nowhere in
the centre that could be considered
a no-go area. One indication of this
is that the city stays awake much
later. Climatic considerations may
partly explain it but, at an hour
when central Nairobi is empty but
for taxis and askaris ,
Mombasans are to be seen strolling
in the warm night, old men
conversing on the benches in Digo
Road, and many shops are still open.
The small-town freedoms remain
healthy here and it all adds up to a
city that is richly satisfying and
rewarding to stay in.
Ethnically , Mombasa is
perhaps even more diverse than
Nairobi. Asian and Arab influence is
particularly pervasive, with fifty
mosques and dozens of Hindu and Sikh
temples lending a strongly Oriental
flavour. Still, the largest
contingent speaks Swahili as a first
language and it is the Swahili
civilization that, more than any
other, accounts for Mombasa's
distinctive character. You'll see
women wearing head-to-foot buibuis
or brilliant kanga outfits,
men decked out in kanzu gowns
and hip-slung kikoi wraps.
The smaller community of settlers
and European expatriates figures
less prominently here than in
Nairobi, but it continues to wield
disproportionate economic and social
clout.
As a tourist town, Mombasa
doesn't go out of its way to please.
Indeed, one of its best qualities is
its utter lack of pretension. It is
principally a port: Kilindini
harbour takes up most of the western
side of the island. Increasingly,
too, Mombasa is an industrial city,
boasting one of East Africa's major
oil refineries (on your right as you
arrive by train). In short, Mombasa
is not a resort. Visiting sailors
are as important to its tourist
economy as bona fide tourists, and
(a grievous shortcoming) the island
has no real beaches. The vast
majority of the obvious tourists
that you'll see around the place are
here only for the purpose of a
shopping trip from their North or
South coast beach hotels. You may
not be able to resist the lure of
the beaches for too long, but
Mombasa deserves a little of your
time unless you are in a big hurry;
there are few places in the country
with such a strong sense of
identity.
