Mombasa, Kenya (February 23)

We had an uneventful overnight passage from Zanzibar to Mombasa, arriving at the mouth of the harbor about 7:00 AM.

Transiting up the channel to our dock, we passed a ferry boat so packed with people the thought on being on it certainly made me cringe.

Today's tour was to Shimba Hills Natural Reserve for a vehicle safari.  The vehicles were vans with pop-top roofs.  With six people plus the driver in each van, we could stand up to see and photograph the animals.  Even at 8:30 in the morning the day was so hot and humid that the driver popped the top before we left the pier, driving through the city and into the country in pseudo-convertible style.

Had I linked the fact that Mombasa is on an island with the scary ferry we passed coming in, I would have anticipated suddenly finding ourselves on said ferry.  The process of loading it seemed completely chaotic but was actually quite well choreographed.  Vehicles that had queued in multiple lines went on first, parking inches from each other on all sides.  It was amazing that the ferry deck was not littered with side-view mirrors.  Once the vehicles were aboard, on came the foot traffic.  In a surprisingly short time, the ferry was underway to the far shore where vehicles and pedestrians streamed ashore in another seeming chaotic swirl of activity. 

I would like to have taken pictures, but the ferry terminals and ferry itself were within a security zone where no photography was allowed. Sneaking some shots was contra-indicated due to the heavy presence of security officers.  I did find a picture online that depicts the disembarking. 

(internet photo)

Leaving the congestion of structures, people and vehicles in the vicinity of the ferry terminal, behind, we rolled south into the countryside.  We initially followed the shoreline. We then turned inland, climbing into the Shimba Hills.

After entering the nature reserve, the twenty or so vehicles in our convoy deployed onto various roads in search of animals.  Having had a conversation with our driver/guide Mr. Suleiman during a comfort stop on route, I was not optimistic.  This pessimism served me well.  We did have some sightings, but they were few, far between, mostly uninteresting and usually a considerable distance from our vehicle.  Unlike the private preserve, off-road safaris we went on in South Africa and Botswana in 2008, on this safari vehicles were required to stay on the road, so off-roading the get closer was not an option.  Thankfully I had a 300mm lens on a full-frame  camera.

warthogs

We got lucky!  This Impala was standing by the side of the road
a short distance from the entrance to the Reserve.

The best sightings of the day were a the Shimba Hills Lodge where we had lunch.  There were two fish hawks that put on quite a show diving for bread thrown into the pond by our waiter. 

a monkey enjoying the air show

After lunch there was another hour of safari during which the only animals we saw were more warthogs. 

Oh, the excitement!

Mid-afternoon, we headed back to Mombasa.  As we approached the traffic backlog for the ferry Mr. Suleiman reiterated his morning warning to close our windows to prevent someone reaching in to grab anything of value.

In hindsight, we should have tried to coax our driver into abandoning the afternoon safari in favor of a driving tour of Mombasa.  I suspect attempting to do so would have been futile since he probably did not have that degree of decision-making latitude.  Regardless, by the time we returned to the ship there was no time left to venture out on our own.  We divested ourselves of a surprising amount of red dust acquired on the Shimba Hills roads.  The ship departed Mombasa as night settled in.