06/03/2010 – 11/03/2010 Nairobi to Kilifi – Kenya

09-11/03/2010 – More relaxing, and a visit to The old town and Fort Jesus in Mombasa on Thursday. Ellen and Philip have been fantastic hosts; probably why we stayed longer than expected. It was also great to take it easy and we really felt at home there.

08/03/2010 – Took it easy all day. We were left with the house to ourselves. It took a while to get going after all the drink last night. We headed into Kalifi for a short while. I tried to set up my wireless internet so I could catch up with things – no luck, so i’ll try again tomorrow. We ended the day by sitting on the beach looking ino the Indian Ocean.

07/03/2010 – The rains have passed, and we woke to a sunny day. The storms seemed to have got the frogs excited and we passed some swamp land along the track back to the main road that was alive with the sound of them. An incredible sound.

We got to Mombasa around one thirty. The landscape got flatter as we neared the coast and the temperature climbed to near 40c. We set the GPSs to the Tamarind resturant for lunch. Set in a Moorish style building overlooking the harbour and creek with views of the old town. The seafood was out of this world. I had piri piri jumbo prawns straight from the Indian ocean which were fantastic. Bun went for the sea food stew (crab, lobster, prawns, squid, red mullet and talipia) in Swahili sauce which is a tomato and coconut based sauce like a curry which was also yummy. We took it easy here for a few hours taking it all in.

Bun had made contact with a family friend over the last few weeks who put us in contact with Ellen, who lives in Kilifi, an hours drive north of Mombasa. We were going there after lunch to stay for a few days. On the way we visited the Bombolulu workshop, which gives vocational training to physically disabled people.

We were amazed when we arrived. A beautiful house, with a swimming pool between the boabab trees and our own room with a bathroom. We instantly thought we might stay longer! Doris, the housekeeper, showed us to the room and we took it easy waiting for Ellen to arrive home. We were also greeted by the great dane that slobbers everywhere and the staffordshire bull terrier.

Ellen arrived home later from a lunch party, with her husband Philip and a few freinds. We had a great evening having some drinks and telling them about our trip. We got in the pool later after we had all had too much to drink.

06/03/2010 – On our way out of Nairobi we made a few stops. I finally picked up my safari chair which I have been after since we left. I was waiting untill we got to Kenya to pick one up. I can finally stop bugging Bun to use hers which she has had from day 1! We headed to Mombasa with the intention of stopping along the main road before dark. We tried to camp at the site in the Chyulu Hills National Park but as they got their official ticket book out with the $75 fee to park the vehicle, we decided to head back up the track and ask a family if we could camp on their land. We offered them 500 Kenyan shilling, about £4.50, and they were happy to let us park for the night. We chatted for a while and one man stayed with us as we cooked. We were told we might see elephants crossing the field as they leave the park to come and snack on the villagers maze crops, but we didn’t get a glimpse of any.

We experienced torrential rains in the night accompanied by blinding lighting and ground shaking thunder. My new chair got soaked when I left it out overnight!

Were listening to: Gorillaz – Plastic beach. Loving this! Especially Empire ants, featuring another Africaoverland favourite, Little dragon, who got played alot in Turkey/Middle east…….