Mombasa

Mombasa has East Africas main port and a rich history of conqueres and culture melted into each other. It's predominitly Muslim and conservative on the surface. It is a nice and interesting place, but the reason I am staying here at the moment for the third time is my need for a break of travelling, Nakumat which is a supermarket for the "mzungus" with all international products imaginable and Mombasa Backpackers (mombasabackpackers.com). The backpackers just opened months ago and everything was unorganized in an enjoyable fashion. Basicly it is a mansion whitch back home would cost about 3 million $. There are 13 toilets, a bar, 2 kitchens, a huge living room with an impressive movie collection, a garden (in which I am sitting at the moment), Masai guards whom I know consider good friends and the owners Bob and David. Bob is Southafrican and likes beer. David is Peruvian and likes just one other thing next beer and girls. Their good fun and extremely chilled out. Because of their laziness they used to depend on guests offering rest ups to them because they were not able to feed themself even though Nakumat is just 500m away. Nowadays they have a nice cook that is taking care of their needs. In high season the place was packed even though it just newly opened. People were partying hard and a lot of hilarious stories emerged over the 50 days I stayed there in total.

I grilled a lot of very good beef filet (5$/kg -> Switzerland 40$/kg) in the garden and then chilled around the fire place. I got to know so many people here that I know consider good friends. Among others one stands out. Michael from Tours, France is travelling since 6 years around Africa. He started on the west coast all the way to South Africa and is now heading up to Egypt. He had many funny stories to share and was a party animal. A good man.

During the day I usually stayed at the place and didn't move a lot anymore. But after several weeks I had the desire to check out some sights. With some friends I usually sneaked into a five star hotel (easy to get past security if you have white skin) and hanged at the pool area with a view of the reef and change of tide. After 7 times I got caught and left to the beach when I guy was getting the manager. I also checked out Mombasas nightlife several times. It is scattered all over town. Usually there are a fair amount of prostitutes inside, some players, the Indian community (wealthy descendants of Indians who were brought to Africa to built railways for the East India Company) and mzungus. Timmy danced a lot even though he traditionally sucks at that, but then again: any car can drive if there is enough fuel inside.

Mombasa Backpackers became a new home for me and I found good friends here. I even got the offer to become a co owner by the people working. And I am actually considering it in the long run. What more can I say...