Mombasa

We recently booked a last-minute holiday through Olympic Holidays, to Shelly Beach Hotel near Mombasa. We thought it was a good deal for one week all-inclusive, in a location that would guarantee the sun we were craving. Then the warnings started - 'what about the terrorist attacks in 2001, what about the begging and the poverty, what about this, what about that', and we began to have doubts. We read loads of reviews (thanks, dooyoo, for some of them) and left from Gatwick with mixed feelings. Landing at 5.30am on a Monday morning after a nine hour flight in the cramped surroundings of a charter flight is never going to leave you feeling ...

My worst memory of Mombassa was the day we hired a boat to take us to the reef. A respectable looking guy approached us on the beach and offered to take us on a tour of the reef. I was keen on doing some snorkelling so we arranged to go that afternoon. We had mistakenly thought he was the official hotel boat operator but when we eventually found him it was at a different booking office. No matter, he seemed a decent chap and the boat looked OK. The price was right, and he'd agreed to take us to a good snorkelling site first, then on to the reef. On arrival at our first destination he dropped anchor, sorry, I mean he threw over a piece of rope, just long enough to ...

And now for part two of my Kenyan experience – Mombassa! Mombassa is a port town – newly designated as a city (the President’s New Year present) – on the Indian Ocean coast. It is a bustling, vibrant place, sadly lacking in anything resembling the levels of cleanliness we are familiar with in our major cities. The Town centre is no safe place to be after dark for tourists, but is well worth a look round during the day. Just remember the golden rules – carry no valuables in obvious places, not even jewellery and keep money well hidden away. Take a taxi if you are not sure – it is better to be safe than to be sorry. But there is much to ...