March 24: Today I woke early to watch the sun rise over the Indian Ocean. While looking out over the water I thought about how at about the same time one year ago I was standing on the beach in Thailand at the opposite side of the Indian Ocean watching the sun set in the evening. Last night when we arrived at the resort all of us immediately went out to the ocean and went on a "water safari" with the local beach boys as the tide was out. We saw countless sea creatures in the pools on our way out: sea worms, urchins, cucumbers, slugs, sponges, and lots of coral (both alive and dead). The beach boys are local men that make their livelihood off of tourists on the beach, selling random souvenirs and giving "water safari" tours of the sea life, asking for compensation at the end. We knew they expected money for showing us around, but didn't pay them, but a few of us bought odds and ends from them. One sells fresh coconuts that we have enjoyed daily by the pool. The beach boys can be obnoxious, pestering you anytime you approach the beach, however some are pretty nice and Cody and I had some interesting conversations with them while waiting for one named Marco Polo to made a straw hat for us.
We are staying at a nice resort on the ocean with less than a minute's walk to the water from my room. The water is pretty shallow and there is quite a bit of vegetation and small animals like sea urchins making it a little difficult to swim in the ocean. However, there is a nice pool that is actually a bathtub, seeing as the water is not very refreshing considering how hot it is in Mombasa. Mombasa is much hotter than Nairobi and much more humid. Even though I'm a little more used to it than everyone else after my semester in Thailand, it is still crazy hot. However, I will have to readjust to this temperature since my IDS is a short distance up the coast and I assume the weather will be similar.
On Monday we visited the Rabai Kaya Forest. This is a sacred forest to the Mijikenda people of coastal Kenya. There are several Kaya forests, many recognized as important biological conservation areas since there is such high levels of plant diversity within the forests. The Mijikenda people have conserved the forests for their own sacred practices including rituals and burial ground. There are many beliefs shared by the Mijikenda people on how to approach the center of the Kaya Forest. When we were following our guide and two Mijikenda elders on the small path, we had to stop at one point and rest for a few moments to allow the bad spirits to be removed from us before continuing towards the center. Our shoes also had to be removed.
March 25: Today we went into the Old City of Mombasa to tour Fort Jesus. Fort Jesus is a Portuguese port built in 1591. After our tour we split into groups and were brought around Mombasa's old town with a guide. I felt like we were navigating a maze as we followed our guide through the twists and turns of the old town. The streets were very narrow, and often tuk tuks would appear out of no where, wanting to pass.
Our tour brought us to Biashara (business) street where we were able to do some shopping alongside the locals who were also there shopping for clothes and various fabrics.
Tristan and me
Mckenzie, Sam, me, Alex and Lacey
Alex and me
March 26 & 27: We spent these two days again in the old town of Mombasa. Each morning we met with locals who we interviewed about different aspects of coastal Kenya, including economics, tourism, and Islam. It was a very interesting conversation both days, and we learned a great deal from the panels we spoke to.
March 28: This morning we had our group presentations for the week. Group presentations are held after each course extension, for instance our last group of presentations was after our stay in Amboseli, with topics covering the Maasai economy, culture and relationship with the environment. My group discussed the relationship between the Kenyan coastal people and the national government.
After presentations we enjoyed an afternoon relaxing by the pool, playing volleyball, and walking along the beach. In the evening we took the bus to a hotel on the inlet in Mombasa and boarded the Tamarind for a dinner boat cruise. We enjoyed a very fancy night on the water eating and dancing together. It was a four course meal, and I had a mixed seafood appetizer, butternut squash soup, lobster and chocolate cake with Kenyan coffee. The boat held about 40 people and it has impeccable service; I felt like I was not in Kenya anymore. Our group was seated in our own section on the top level, and on the level beneath us there was a band playing different kinds of jazz and Kenyan music. After dinner we all hit the dance floor and we were even able to get both of our program coordinators to dance with us as well. It was a great way to end an amazing two weeks of traveling together.
Cody and me
the boat!
Sean, McKenzie M., McKenzie S., Lourine, our waiter, Cody and me
main course
the band
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