Emma had a short break for half term at the end of Feb so we thought we would use it as an excuse to celebrate my 50th birthday which was a couple of weeks previously. The actual day of my birthday was a write off as I had Addisitus and was sick as a dog, so I think I was owed a celebration. Emma got 10 days of luxury safaris in Uganda for her 50th but I had to make do with 4 days on a beach in Kenya. Yeah I know, I’m hard done by. Mombassa is a handy trip from Addis as there are direct flights and it only takes a couple of hours. Previously we had been to Mombassa and up the coast to the north, so this time we headed south to Diani Beach.
Regular readers will have noticed a regular pattern with our trips, they don’t often get off to the best of starts. We got to Mombassa no problem and we had booked a hotel and an airport pick up. No sign of our driver when we emerged into the sunshine. We were of course hassled by other taxi drivers who would very kindly take us. We had faith ( do we ever learn?) that our guy would turn up, but no. After contacting the hotel he said he expected us at 11pm not am – what? There aren’t even flights at that time. We negotiated a price with another taxi driver and we set off. The trip involved taking a ferry across the river so it took a wee while but we finally turned up at the hotel we had booked, Coral Beach Resort. We booked it because the pictures online showed thatched rooms on the beach, it looked lovely. The hotel we drove into looked like it closed down in 1960. It was derelict and looked abandoned but eventually someone came. This didn’t look promising at all. He showed us to a room round the back that looked at best as if it was the worker’s quarters. Nice view of a wall and not a grain of sand in sight. He claimed that this was the room we had booked. Er.. no. He finally showed us to the front of the hotel and there was actually a beach but though the room he showed us was an improvement, it was not where we wanted to spend my 50th! We looked online and we came up with African Dream Cottages. The driver also recommended it so off we went. It wasn’t beach front but a short walk back from the coast and it was fantastic. The staff were friendly and the rooms were lovely, situated around a sparkling pool. It was also cheaper and included breakfast – result. Let the celebrations begin. We toddled off to the beach and we were soon enjoying cold Tusker lager and fresh sea food in a beach front gaff.
We enjoyed our time at Diani Beach, there were plenty of restaurants to choose from and you didn’t get too much hassle on the beach. However, we spent most of the time by the pool in our hotel as it was so peaceful and relaxing. The hotel also had a small bar and restaurant too. We did a couple of trips though. We visited the Colobus Conservation Sanctuary https://www.colobusconservation.org/ and it is well worth a visit. The guide told us all about the primates they are protecting due to habitat loss in the area. One of their projects is to build rope ladders across the busy main road so the monkeys can get across without becoming road kill. We had a short walk through the forest and just as we were leaving we saw a group of Colobus. We also had a day boat trip out to the marine park which was nice and it was great to go snorkelling after such a long time.
It was a fantastic break away from Addis to celebrate my half century but not sure it compares to a 10 day safari. Think I’m stilled owed something Emma !
