It’s now the 15th Dec and time I started my bodabodasafari blog again. I was reminded of this when on a boda boda this morning from Shela to Lamu town. A stressful few weeks culminated on Tues 1st when I received my Covid fit to fly negative certificate following the test the day before. Phew…otherwise the whole cost of my flight to Kenya would have been wasted.
My flight on Thurs 3rd was in the evening and the morning was spent nervously packing in slow motion and putting the balance of my possessions in my friend’s loft. Then Phil gave me a lift to east Grinstead station and my journey had begun. I wasted some time in Victoria station and with plenty of time in hand I got the underground to Heathrow terminal 2. The airport wad surprisingly crowded. Checked in easily and stretched out a beer at the only restaurant / cafe that was selling alcohol.
Boarded the Ethiopian airlines flight to Mombasa via Addis Ababa. Good flight with an empty seat next to me but possibly made a mistake of having 3 little bottles of wine because I hardly slept at all. A 3 hrs stopover in Addis. Had a ginger tea an a nice chat with an Argentine n Namibian couple who were taking time out in TZ, starting with Zanzibar. Meanwhile I flew the 2 hrs to Mombasa. The queue took quite a while because of the health and tracking documentation that needed to be presented. One bit of fantastic news was that my multiple entry visa for Kenya that was in my old passport was accepted. It should have been as valid until 5th Feb…but you never know. Anyway, saved me having to pay out 50usd for a visa.
Caught a taxi into the city to the Ocean Crown hotel that had been recommended to me by Mark. Checked in…2,800 per night incl b’fast. Comfortable room. Walked to the Fort Jesus area. Confirmed that the New Palm Tree htl was still closed. Back to hotel and a shower and up Moi avenue to Bella Vista restaurant ad recommended by Bonny. Oh, had to pop in Fantasy Bar for one drink…good value beers.
Took it easy the next day and in fact got a bit sunburned sitting on the roof of the hotel. Abdul picked me up in his car from the hotel and we went to mama Ngina drive for some fresh coconut milk / juice. He then took me to his home to meet his family. He only lived a few minutes drive from my hotel. Well, that was it….2 nights in Mombasa city….it was very hot and I wanted to get to north coast hotel that was near the beach. Well, my adventure was truly under way and on Sunday I was due to go to Bamburi.