Kilifi

A pretty town on the banks of the Kilifi Creek, Kilifi is home to an arty/yachtie community who have snatched up the land alongside the lovely creek and gather in the evenings at the Seahorse Hotel to drink and tell their stories. For many years the only means of crossing the creek was by ferry, but a bridge was recently built, which is not as much fun, but more practical. Not that many people stop in Kilifi, but it is worth breaking your journey to look at the Mnarani Ruins

Watamu

Turtle Bay is a stretch of beach about 5 miles (7kms) long, which is quite safe for swimming, walking and sunbathing. It is situated 140kms North of Mombasa on the Kenyan Coast in East Africa.

It is part of the Watamu Marine National Park and is under stringent protection from exploitation. This means that there are no high-rise hotels, alomost no sea-walls and there is a natural barrier between the beach and property developments, the riparian strip.

Long walks, swimming and sunbathing are a few of the activities you could do. You could explore the rock pools at low tide and find lionfish, brightly coloured crabs and see some of our coastal birds such as the whimbrel.

You could, of course, simply laze in the shade and read a novel or two, have a few siestas, dip your toes in the sea, and then after a long hard day like that, come back to your residence for a cup of tea and some home-made cake.

At its southern end is the mouth of Mida Creek, a large mangrove edged saltwater creek ideal for birding (See "Birding" page). At its northern end there are several small and medium sized hotels such as Ocean Sports, Hemingways, Turtle Bay Beach Club and Blue Bay.

Malindi

Malindi, a midway point along Kenya's 450 km coastline. It is located at the mouth of River Sabaki. Malindi is a major resort town like Mombasa; however, Mombasa's North and South Coast are more accessible to safaris, other tours, more importantly, very lively. Malindi functioned as a flourishing city-state in medieval times. Malindi's main attractions are its white sandy beach, scuba diving, snorkeling, and fishing grounds off its coast. Malindi also welcomed and entertained the famous Vasco Da Gama on his visits to the Kenyan coast. The Malindi town is a mishmash of Swahili style buildings. It is flooded mainly with Italian and German tourists.

There are number of luxury class beach hotels and resorts. German, Italians and Kenyans have developed the beach resorts and hotels. Snorkeling and scuba diving can be done at Malindi Marine National Park. To fill your time away from the beach in the Malindi - Watamu Bay area, you have the option to visit the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest, and Gedi National Monument. The Arabuko and Sokoke Forest is the largest surviving lowland forest in Kenya.