Kenya's beaches

With my dad visiting it was time to take the family to the beach for a few days last month. Kenya's East Coast has some stunning beaches, and lots of them,most of the Coast in fact, whether it is Diani, South of Mombasa, North of Mombasa, near Kilifi, Malindi or further up on the islands in Lamu. On the coast its a hot and steamy 35 most of the year, though cooler with the sea breeze or when the rains come.

It's a big tourism draw for foreigners and Kenyans, with hundreds of resorts, some of which are very fancy, strung out along the coast. Those on the beach are often very large parcels of land with many nice huts or villas and multiple pools as well as bars. Those set back from the beach are often much cheaper, often smaller with just a few huts surrounding a pool. Staying there saves money and one can still go use the public beach, or even the private beaches at other resorts if using those resorts' bars or restaurants.

Kite surfing seems to be the in-thing nowadays, though its also possible to go jet skiing (which i did, and very much enjoyed, as did Hannah who spent a while on the jet ski too), camel riding and taking glass-bottomed boats as well as snorkeling. To be honest, there was nothing too dramatic to see where we stayed but I believe other parts of the coast, which have protected marine parks, have more to see. The beaches themselves are almost perfect white sand beaches that stretch for miles. Indeed they are make great places to go running, at low tide anyway.

The kids had lots of fun playing in the sand, swimming in the sea, and also playing in the pool, even though the water is so warm (both the pool and the sea) it is barely even refreshing. We ended up paying a small fortune for some sand toys at one of the few shops around (The Diani area does have a few small shopping malls but they are very touristy and unfortunately quite expensive) but it kept the kids very happy.

Last week, I was back at the beach for work, speaking at and participating in a conference. It's quite common to have conferences at these kinds of places. People like to get away from Nairobi, and once they are there, they are often stuck there and can't sneak out part way through. It also means people stay for the dinners and evenings which are both fun and useful for conversations. A change of scenery does seem to help and of course people are much more laid back on the coast; almost no-one wore a suit, and everyone was fairly open to talking to different people whilst of course being able to enjoy a drink since no driving home was involved.

I attended the same event last year, but just flew in and out for 2 days. This time it was much more enjoyable and more useful, since I already knew several people and got to know many more people, especially in the government who I'll be talking with frequently. As with last year, the attendance was very good, the topics were decent, the location excellent, and the general atmosphere very positive and conductive to sharing ideas to drive technology forward in Kenya. I'm looking forward to next year!