Mombasa - Culture

Mombasa holds a sense of community that other major cities lack, and is physically tropical in a way that could hardly be more different from Nairobi the capital. Mombasa is the slightly indolent hub of the coast, a faded, flaking, charming city that still, despite its gentle sprawl, feels like a small town that is also great.

Mombasa is actually an island and is connected to the mainland to the west by causeways, to the north by a bridge and to the south, by a ferry. It is intricate and its streets wriggle deceptively. At its most appealing heart is Old Town, a maze of lanes, mosques and cramped elderly 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 is now a national monument and museum.

Within easy walking distance and cluttered all around the town, is the 20^th century Mombasa: wide streets, refreshing lack of high risers, and a surprising number of open spaces. Even here, in the commercial center of one of Africa's busiest ports, the atmosphere is relaxed and congenial. Rush hours, urgency and paranoia seem to be the capital's problems, not Mombasa's. And the gaping, marginal slums that one expects to find outside African cities hardly exist here.

Along Moi Avenue are the famous immortal double pair of elephant tusks: these adding great character to the main street of the town.

Ethnically, Mombasa is perhaps even more diverse than Nairobi. Asian and Arab influence is particularly persuasive, with fifty mosques and dozens of Hindu and Sikh temples lending a strongly oriental flavour. Still, the largest contingent speak Swahili as a first language and it is the Swahili civilization that, more than anything accounts for Mombasa's distinctive character. For up country settlers, Mombasa and the coast have long represented "sea level and sanity" a holiday break from grind of making a living in the Highlands.

As a tourist town, Mombasa doesn't go out of its way: indeed, its best quality is its lack of presentation. It is principally a port and increasingly an industrial city with a major oil refinery and a cement factory.

You may not be able to resist the lure of the beaches for long, but the seedily romantic port city deserves time unless you are in a big hurry: there are few places in the country with such a strong sense of identity.

Mombasa offers a variety of lodgings depending on the price bracket, and the hotels in the coast tend to be good value for money.

Cheaper lodgings are usually located in the town center, whilst for a higher price bracket you will generally get a good hotel on the beachfront.

Mombasa is well supplied with a variety of restaurants: ranging from very exclusive to the more reasonable ones. The city's chief delights are cuisine involving fish, coconut, chicken, rice and beans, incorporating spicy Asian flavours.

There are also several restaurants that serve international cuisine.

As you stroll around the beautiful town, you will find several corner cafes, hole-in-wall juice bars and confectionery shops.

Bars are located all over town: however, as the tourist hotels are outside the towns so are the flashiest discos. Several hotels have live bands playing with dance shows: this drawing a large crowd.

If you don't want to join the throngs at the clubs, walking after dark is generally safe in the Old Town and along the main roads. Around the Old Town, you will still come across coffee sellers selling their thick black "kahawa" from traditional high spouted jugs.

Mombasa is also a cheap place to buy the fabrics the coast is famous for. Check out the latest "kanga" designs in Biashara Street. Some of the home-produced patterns are so good they are beginning to make an impact worldwide!

Biashara street also houses shops selling household goods, bags, mats, baskets and several other locally made items.

Strolling on Moi Avenue, you will see the more expensive boutiques, electrical shops, shoe shops, bookshops and tour operator offices.

Old Town is devoted to gift and curio shops, and the emporiums are over-whelming luxuriant in their display.

Further along the north is Bombolulu: a visit to this cultural center is a must, where physically disabled people are employed to create exquisite works of African art and furniture.