Jarida la Safari

There is something decidedly persistent about the heat in the air today. It is almost as if the sun went about gathering its relatives for a pot luck today. I don’t remember January being this warm but then again I don’t mind it. With all the cold that was my December in Europe, the heat is more than welcome. It is a good friend. I have just come back home to Kenya from a year of school in Germany and the familiar feeling of the tropical sun on my skin is a memory I have relished for a long time.
I daub sunscreen on my skin and laugh at Hans as he proceeds to apply some on his face like a soldier applying camouflage paint. Streaks and patches just like a commando. He points at the sun and declares sotto voce “Ze fight iz on”, at which point I laugh and tell him that the whole point of coming to the Kenyan coast was to bask lazily under the coconut trees in the African sun. No need to fight a good thing. Hakuna Matata, he laughs back.
We are seated outside my parents place in Nyali, Mombasa waiting for a two other friends to join us, and just then they call. They are five minutes out. As we settle into the wicker chairs on the veranda to wait, our attention is drawn to the small dhows easing their way through Mida creek and out towards the high seas, or deep sea as the locals here call it. “They have been sailing those waters for over a thousand years” , I quip. The historian in him is impressed.
Malindi is a Swahili word that loosely translates to “Place of fair winds”. An idyllic jewel of town, its rich merchant history is only surpassed by the deep azure of its waters and the riches of its coral reefs. I promised Hans the bluest waters he had ever swum in hence the two hour road trip north from Mombasa to Malindi. The marine park in Malindi is also one of the best places to snorkel in Africa and with glass bottom boat tours available as well it promises to be a full day.
I gather the bag with the scuba and snorkelling gear as the other half of the class drives in to our compound. Hans smiles. Today is going to be a good day. I can feel it in the winds.