tricks 'n' tracks around the globe

sharing good trips and practical tips with anti-resort type travellers to some popular and other improbable destinations

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Not all those who wander are lost.

J. R. R. Tolkien

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Watamu in bites, n.12: Malindi?

Malindi is cool. It is a real small town made of 3 parts. The old town is nice to vogue around not more than a couple of hours, mainly muslin or Indian shops. There is the new town with fancy bars and lounges for partying. Third, the bay with the beach and different resorts. You do not need to stay in an expensive resort to have a sun bed, you can rent them at a daily rate and use all the other facilities as bar, toilettes, sweet water shower. I got a sun bed for 300 KES hundred, but I was told it could cost a 1000 in high season.  Leaving your bag on the beach is not really recommended, it could be easily stolen, they say. Plus, staying at a resort will spare you the beachboyz too. The only problem here is the tide. You can not swim the half of the day… you have to walk out to the reef until 2 pm to have a bath. For me, not much point in booking a beach holiday in Malindi. I stayed in a local guesthouse, private bathroom, breakfast included for 1500 KES/night. I loved it, authentic local feeling, beautiful “mammas”. It was pretty noisy, every TukTuk in town passed under my window between 7 am and 10 pm. It is just in front of the Malindi turist market.

What would I do next time differently?

I would probably take the bus from Nairobi to Mombasa and to Malindi. Spend the a night or 2 in Malindi and go later to Watamu.

Good luck!

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Watamu in bites, n.11: beaches in Watamu and around

What is cool: Watamu is not only one beach but a series of different bays easily reachable by mototaxi.

Garonda: 3 km, 100 KES by mototaxi (one way), you can rent a sunbed, ho hotels behind, just some private houses

Jakaranda, 6 km, 250-300 KES,

Love Island, 50 KES

Ocean breeze, 50-100 KES

I went only to Garonda, not bad, just for a change… you can take the sun.

What is great in Watamu that you can swim the whole day. The water is clear, warm and with amazing colors of green, blue and turquoise. The sand feels like the finest flour. Seriously, beautiful beaches. Even at low tide, there is water and you can lay in the sand in the shallow water, the best combination to sunbath.

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Watamu in bites, n.10: do not book more than a couple of nights, you have never been to that place, how could you know whether you like it or not.

This post is more for myself. I met so many travellers, and every time I asked them, they said they stayed a couple of days, one or two. They never book more than some nights. And they are right. Do not worry about finding a place! Today, there are not anymore overbooked places, there is always a better and/or cheaper option. Book some nights and if you decide to stay longer, after 2 days you already know the place so much better, made connections and friends to find another place.  

At day 4, after my “amazing” boat trip, I was just sick and tired of Watamu. I could not afford any more park entrance fees to go snorkeling alone (now that I understood how it worked). I could not take anymore the Watamu tourism style and beachboyz. I could not spend a single night more in Mvuvi chatting with the owner everyday who repeats: “I wish I could help you more”. So, I decided to change my last 50 usd to pay my room, check out and go to Malindi. By the time I got back to Mvuvi it was 4 pm, the owner kindly agreed to let me go but he told me that I still have to pay that night since it was after check-out time. As understanding as usual. He really cares about only his money, unbelievable (or not, and I am living on a rainbow). Well, no luck, I could not afford to pay my room in Watamu and going to Malindi paying another room there for the same night… so, I stayed that night and left next morning.

Finally, it was such a relief.

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Watamu in bites, n.9: Snorkeling in Watamu - no need for a boat tour

With my minimal budget, I decided to go for snorkeling. I was trying to investigate for 3 days which was the cheapest option. The only answer: you need to take a boat because the reef is far. Meaning, a paying boat tour. Well, I made a deal with a local tour provider, half day, only snorkeling 3000 KES (marine park fee, included). The full day tour was 5000 KES including seafood BBQ and a whatever creek tour. I was told it would last from 8.30 to 12.00, fair enough, after the tide comes in, there is not much to see.  W/Hell, we waited for all (Italian) participants until 9.45 then we went for dolphin chasing, and then a small stop on a sand bank. Hallelujah!  The sand bank visit was too much for me, I freaked out. I asked for a gear, left the boat and swam to the marine park. They let me snorkelling 45 mins. 45 minutes!!! I payed 20 $ park fee for 40fu**ing5 minutes of snorkelling. L’inculata (in Italian) as usual, Watamu style. This was day 4 and the last drop in my Watamu existence. 

Side note, again. The type of tourism you find in Watamu is pretty short sited and low quality. There is not much to do. You can swim, take the sun and go for these boat tours, all the same. No tailor made tourism or quality activities. I was only interested in snorkeling, very well explained, but they were only interested to sell me their stupid and expensive tours. They do not care if you discover the next day that they took you for an idiot, the only thing that matters that they earned their 20 bugs that day. Actually, you do not need to take useless boat tour to snorkel, the reef is not far at all.

Snorkeling in Watamu

The reef is totally accessible by swimming. First difficulty: renting a gear. I went to the diving centre just next to Oceans Sports where they told me that they did not rent gears because of the difficulty of replacing them. After some advocacy, they would give me one for 5000 KES or my passport as deposit. Renting fee: 700 KES per day. You have to pay the park entrance which you can do it at 3 different places in Watamu, one of them is next to BlueBay resort at the end of the bay. Then you need to take a motor bike to plot 28, all drivers know it, for 100 KES and take the small path, there us a sign “beach”.  In the dive centre, they told me that swimming out can be dangerous because the boats do not pay attention. I dunno. The boats come from the sea side, stop at the buoys; do not come close to the beach at low tide when you snorkel. But, please watch out for the boats! For the tide time, you can ask the dive centre. Bring some water with you and nothing valuable, there aren’t bars or restaurants on the beach.

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Watamu in bites, n.8: little Italy and beachboyZ

Let’s get back to Watamu. Watamu is an Italian colony. This place is full of Italian toursist, consequently (even if there isn’t such a direct connection to me) everybody speaks Italian, I mean EVERYBODY and I mean ALL THE TIME. They do not even consider the slightest possibility that you do not speak it. I do and the first time in my life regretted it. This effect is combined with the beachboyz phenomena. Beachboyz are young rasta/non rasta guys hanging out on the beach trying to sell you some (lousy) tours or looking for a sugar mamma. They do it as full time job. Marvellous: you can not go to swim, walk on the beach or walk to the market without being followed from 1 up 3 beachboyz constantly. “ciaobella, comestai, perquantotemporimani, dovestai?” Did I say constantly? Sorry, I just cannot explain the feeling that after 20 mins of forced conversation one them is finally leaving you and you can already see the next approaching. The best you can do is to take it with philosophies. It is completely useless staring to discuss or trying to explain that you just would like to be/swim/walk alone or forgod’sake read a book.

You’d better “mettere l’anima in pace” and be nice. Being rude does not help much and you will just feel guilty afterwards. Actually, they are young people trying to make a living and if you give them the chance to talk to you will discover the kindness Kenyan people are noted for.  

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Watamu in bites, n.7: The Marina Guesthouse

No surprise, it did not take a long time to discover that there was a cheaper option in town, exactly half price for 1500 KES per night. A nice guest house, nothing luxury, but nothing to criticize. I was so happy, this could allow me going to snorkel almost every day. The guest house had a small and very affordable restaurant too. The owners were very nice. Cool, I am back on track. This is the Marina Guesthouse. They are pretty known by people visiting Watamu for years. Nothing luxury, but nothing is missing either. If you are on honeymoon, you probably look for a more romantic option. This guest house is easy to find, just behind the BluBay resort. They also have sunbeds on the beach. If you would like to contact them, they have an FB page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Marina/531259423618561 or by phone: [phone]

I met the owner of Mvuvi on the beach and just as a figure of speech I asked him “Would you mind if I check out tomorrow morning, still paying tonight?” It was early afternoon, but after check out time, so I wanted to be correct. Guess what? Did he say, “I am sorry that you leave, but I understand your situation. Enjoy your stay in Watamu”?

Not exactly. I am definitively a dreamer. He made me a speech, that he just that morning refused a booking for the period I was supposed to stay. That I AM putting him into a serious difficulty… etc. I re-explained to him that the only reason I came to Watamu was snorkeling and staying at his place I would spend my time in Watamu on the beach watching the sea and counting every dollar to make it to the end of the week. Needless to say, he could not care less. The nicest was that he was doing it with a smile on his face, repeating how much he wanted to help me.

Call me a looser, but with the argument of the refused booking, I decided to stay. Cursing.

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Watamu in bites, n. 6: Am I living in an Utopia (side note)?

Probably, I am asking too much from a service provider but if someone comes to you in clear difficulty with a limited budget and your place is beyond  his/hers financial means, would it be an utopia to expect the owner to say: “Hey, you can leave your backpack here, there are cheaper options in town. Btw, one of them is just behind the corner. Go and check it out.” Would it be so much to ask people making a living of tourism to make sure that visitors have the best possible time according to their means and interest? Having just a tiny bit wider vision about long term tourism or local economy? If I do not spend all my money in your hotel, I will spend it on park fees, renting snorkelling gear and food enjoying my time instead of counting every dollar for a week just to pay my room.

Well, this was not the approach at Mvuvi. The owner was very happy about the idiot tourist falling from the sky without any booking in a damned season by the ebola panic.

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Watamu in bites, Bite n.5: Mvuvi

Mvuvi is just in one parallel behind the beach (behind Oceans Sports), frangi-pangi trees in the street (I just love them) and a nice gate. The garden looked awesome. Not bad. It could be even a better idea than the tent thing – I thought.

I explained the owner my tiny difficulty: planned to stay in a tent, I did not bring much cash with me or a credit card. It was true: I left with 350 usd for one week: Mon-Sun travelling included. After the cab I had:  330 usd in my pocket.

Indeed, the place was way too expensive for me: 3000 KES (34 usd) per night without breakfast (with breakfast 3500).  I made a rough calculation: after having paid my room, I still had 18 usd for food. Fancy restaurants ruled out but not impossible.

The next GREAT news was coming: snorkelling is only possible in the marine park for some limited hours because of the tide and you HAVE TO PAY 20 USD park fee per day. Sigh!

I remade my calculation. If I want to snorkel at least twice, I need to save 40 usd… excellent: 12 usd for food! Yeah!  Call it a relaxing holiday! I immediately ruled out any restaurant or seafood. Volevi la bicicletta, ora pedala!

I asked if there was a market somewhere, negotiated a limited access to the kitchen to prepare my breakfast and I was pretty happy about the small pack of biscuits left from the plane. Two morning’s breakfast.

Plus, walking to reach Mvuvi, I did not see anything else than expensive resorts and a small rural Kenyan town with relative poverty… On the net, this was the second cheapest option… So, I settled. Not with ease, but I did. The room was nice.

Big mistake!

Don’t panic! Breath and take your time!

That’s what I did, I mean the panicking. I had no idea where I was, I had no guidebook or 3G on my phone. I was tired, it was hot… just wanted to get rid off my backpack and settle. So, I told the owner I would stay 6 nights and stay with 12 usd in my pocket per day.

Do not do this! Ever again!

Take your backpack, go to a restaurant with wifi, it will be expensive, but you can always afford a coffee and look for a cheaper place to stay. You can save much more money on 6 nights.

If it’s late, stay max. one night. Take a shower, rest and believe me you will see the world differently. Start looking for a new place. No need to put yourself into difficulty with a too expensive room and ruin your holidays. I was telling to myself: I do not want to loose valuable time of my short 5 complete day holidays by looking for accommodation. I was wrong; 5 days can become even too long if you commit somewhere you do not like. Or at least for me, I could get a stroke in such a situation.

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Watamu in bites, Bite n.4: No more Watamu Backpackers

As a careful planner (joking), I picked, after a 20 minutes search on the net, the Watamu Backpackers. It was a quick search because backpacking is not really an option in Watamu. Booking.com showed me to 2 low(er) cost options: Watamu Backpackers and Mvuvi (B&Bish). I was totally dedicated to backpack, tent, not spending much money, low profile. Watamu backpackers seemed to be the perfect option. No mail, but there was a phone number, perfect. I tried to call the first time in the taxi from Malindi. The number did exist anymore, not that bad, people in Africa often have different numbers and they change them all the time. However, when I got out of the taxi, which left with the speed of light, I found only an abandoned plot.

The Watamu Backpackers does NOT exist anymore

If you are not willing to book at least call the place to make sure it exists. I swear this was the first time that it happened to me… a guidebook can be also a useful thing to have, just in case.

Super, after having spent 2500 KES on cab, I found myself walking under the mid-day sun to look for a place. Great!

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Watamu in bites, n. 2: from Nairobi to Watamu

Karibu sana to the Nairobi Airport, I took a “not that expensive” Fly540 flight.

I mean I tried. I bounced back from the check-in right away, because I did not have the credit card on me I bought on-line the ticket with. Has anyone ever heard about this? They say this is the first paragraph of the terms and conditions (I just click automatically, all the time). It took me 40 minutes of negotiations to get my boarding pass. A good start.

Fly540 from Nairobi to Malindi: have your credit card with you or know your credit card details

At least the last 4 digits, because you have to show at the check-in in order to prove the ticket was not paid by a stolen card.

I had no problems with Fly540 but…

some people from Nairobi told me that they could have 8 hours delays on a one hour flight. If you have an international connection from Nairobi, you might reflect to buy a Kenyan Airways ticket which costs only 30 usd more and it is more reliable. But Murphy never sleeps…

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Watamu in bites, n.1: Why Watamu?

My very bad trip to Watamu in bites. A short trip where everything goes wrong but an excellent learning opportunity. For you.

Going to Watamu?

Say YES if:

You live in Kenya - for a long WE.

You’d like to complete you safari with some beach days.

You are an exhausted humanitarian aid worker from South Sudan in R&R?

You need a rest during your across Africa biketour.

Otherwise… go to Thailand!

However, I DID GO to Watamu. Let me say, I qualify to 3 out of the four conditions. No bicycle but having some friends in Nairobi.  All I wanted a low cost trip to the beach and spend 5 days snorkeling.