nikki leigh mckean photography: Nairobi, Diani Beach & Mombasa.

The morning came early again and the traffic was still busy in Nairobi for a Saturday morning. Our driver picked us up bright and early at the Sports Club at 8:00am and we were off to the airport for our 9:30 flight to Diani Beach (just south of Mombasa). Wendy and I were trying to memorize our “home Nairobi address” in case they asked us any questions as we were travelling as residents of Kenya because the flights are ½ cheap to travel as a resident. I felt like we were back in high school memorizing our fake ID’s before we went out to a club. Thankfully, they didn’t ask us any questions and we got on our small 20 seater plane with plastic boarding tickets.
Our flight to Diani beach was short and sweet, 1hr and 10mins. We were up and down before we knew it. When we arrived to Diani beach the warm breeze and fresh smell of the salt in the water made for a quick smile on the face. This airport is small and the suitcases are wheeled on a rickshaw trolley that is made of wood and a young Kenyan runs it into where we meet our driver. There is nothing familiar in Africa, it is completely different from anything that I have ever experienced and I love every minute of it. The service is amazing and the people of Kenya are absolutely lovely.
We meet our driver and off we go into the resort. When we arrive at Pinewood Resort we are greeted by a sign at the front of the hotel that says welcome Nikki & Wendy and 3 hotel staff members. We also get a cool towel and a fresh cocktail to sip on while they give us a tour around the resort and a quick briefing of the club and what they have to offer.
The vegetation on the coast is much greener than inland and feels very tropical with lots of monkeys and beautiful birds in the trees. The area is again a mix of upper and lower class with lush green palms and fancy hotels on one side of the road and an extreme parallel of small huts and road side stands on the other.
The warm breeze coming off the Indian Ocean is soft on the skin and the pristine white beaches are filled with beach boys trying to sell local crafts that don’t take no for an answer.
We spend most of our time on the coast relaxing by the pool and beach catching up on our journals and reading. Wendy and I headed out to Mombasa the one day which was 40km north from the hotel and took us about 2 1/2hrs to get right downtown. We were told that we had to take a ferry to Mombasa and when we arrived it was hilarious. I was anticipating that the ferry ride would be a longer distance than ‘just across the way’ as we could see the other side. We asked them why they just don’t put a bridge on for this less than 1km stretch and they replied with its too expensive and many large ships cross this way so they would have to build a very tall bridge. As we approach the ferry the driver tells us to do up the windows and lock the doors and keep quiet. There had to be thousands of people around us and Wendy and I were glowing we stood out so bad! I am almost 100% sure that we were the only white folks around. It was organized chaos!!!!!!! We spent the entire day around Mombasa which was even more hectic than Nairobi- if that’s even possible.
The plane ride back to Nairobi today was insane. You ride up to this little airport with security guards that have loaded guns and dirt roads. When we go to check-in we are told that there is no power today and they are going to go through all our baggage manually. Apparently, now till October once a week they are shutting down power in some areas due to the water shortage! Don’t ask… we tried to figure it out but it really doesn’t makes sense. One would think that they would want to keep airport power up and running for security purposes… apparently not! They said, Hakuna Matata (no worries man!) Welcome to Africa…
So, we are back in Nairobi till Sunday. We have plans to go to an orphanage tomorrow!

Love nikki xoxo