Excursions

Enjoy seeing marine life in its original beauty. Explore the Indian Ocean seabed and see coral rocks, starfish and sea urchins. Laze on a sandy beach on an island and then take a trip back stopping at interesting places for different kinds of marine-life, like the very tiny sea anemones. A sumptuous barbecue fish lunch with lobsters and crabs follows whilst you are entertained with typical African hospitality. The rest of the afternoon is yours until it´s time to depart by early evening.

A sea safari in the morning and a discovery safari in the afternoon is the best way to describe this excursion. In the morning you are taken to Watamu Marine Park where you can snorkel and witness the wonders of the underwater world. Then you are taken on a boat ride to Mida Creek. A lunch is taken at your own expense and a choice of restaurants is available. In the afternoon, you visit a local village and are introduced to the local Chief and meet his wives. You will also be entertained by Giriama dancers before taking a short bush-walk and then it’s back to Malindi.

Not far from the Mombasa/Malindi road at Watamu are the Gede Ruins, which are a significant feature of Kenya´s heritage. The ruins are hidden in a forest similar to the Arabuko Sokoke and date from the 15th Century. Still an enigma, the ruins are a relic of an unknown people of whom there are no historical records. Gede ruins are the remains of a Swahili town, typical of most towns along the East African Coast. It traces its origin in the twelfth century but was rebuilt with new town walls in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. This rebuilding is connected with the emigration of many citizens of Kilwa to Mombasa, Malindi and other places along the coast.

With its numerous inhabitants, the town became wealthy and it reached its peak in the fifteenth century. This enormous wealth is evidenced by the presence of numerous ruins, comprising of a conglomeration of mosques; a magnificent palace and houses all nestled in 45 acres of primeval forest. But in the first half of the seventeenth century the last families left the town.

Gede´s eventual abandonment to nature is believed to be as a result of a number of factors. Namely, the Wazimba raid along the East African coast in 1589. The removal of the Sheikh of Malindi and the Portuguese to Mombasa in 1593. The falling water table as shown by the deepening of the well outside the Great Mosque and finally the overhanging menace of the Galla, a hostile nomadic ethnic group from Somalia. Gede remains the first intensively studied site on the coast. It was first visited by Sir John Kirk, a British resident of Zanzibar in 1884. Over forty years later in 1927, it was gazetted as a Historical Monument. Two years later in 1929, it was declared a "protected monument" and in the late thirties, the Public Works Department carried out work on preservation of its crumbling walls. Gede was soon after the repairs in 1948 declared a National park and an Archaeologist appointed as warden. Thus, the first archaeological work at Gede began under the direction of James Kirkman followed by the first publication of the site. In 1969, Gede´s administration was taken over by the Museum Trustees.

Kenya and in addition to being a very important archaeological site; Gede indigenous forest is a sacred site for traditional rituals and sacrifices for the surrounding community.

Kipepeo (Swahili for butterfly) is a community based enterprise close by to the Gede Ruins that supports the livelihoods of people living around Arabuko Sokoke forest in coastal Kenya, East Africa. This provides an incentive for their participation in the conservation of a forest with high biodiversity and endemism. Kipepeo seeks to demonstrate the tangible link between conservation and livelihood. Kipepeo currently sells butterfly and moth pupae and other live insects as well as honey and silk cloth produced by the community. The pupae are exported and the live insects hatched and displayed in insect parks globally.

Bio-Ken is a research centre, which deals with reptiles, especially snakes and snake-bites. Located in Watamu and it houses the largest collection of Snakes in East Africa and is open to the public.

There are about 127 different snake species in Kenya. Of these only 18 have caused human fatalities and only another 6 could kill you. Another 10 could cause you a lot of pain and the remaining 93 or so, are neither non-venomous nor dangerous.

Experience a closer contact with a section of the Giriama people going about their normal way of life with nothing organized specially for the tourist. This excursion will be guided by a highly experienced tour-guide who is well informed about the country’s historical, social, cultural, political and economical background with many years experience in tourism.

Guests are collected from the hotel between 7.15am and 7.30am. The excursion begins by driving through Malindi Estates in town and then out in the bush where you will stop under a big tree. At this point you will be given a lot of information and tips about the culture of the local people in comparison with the other cultures of the Kenyan people. The excursion then takes you through various places of interest in the villages, water collecting points, markets, workshops etc. Here you get the impression about how the local people conduct their business, the social and economical “African way of life”.

As you walk through the bush, you will be given more information on plants of medicinal value as well as of poisonous plants. A visit to a local medicine man enlightens you on this practice as well as giving you a chance to get treated for various ailments. You could also try his famous love charms.

Apart from the medicine man, you will see different activities in the villages. Then you will drive through the plantation, villages and cross over Sabaki River (second longest in Kenya). Here you will visit a Giriama village where you are entertained by Giriama dancers. Then you precede Hell’s Kitchen to for a picnic lunch. This is otherwise known as the Marafa Depression or locally known as Nyari by the local people. It is an extensive series of sandstone gorges ranging from off-white to pale pinks and from oranges to deep purples and sheer gullies. This unique and otherworldly landscape has become part of local folklore where the local people have a superstitious belief about “Shetani” living there. Then you are driven through the bush-savannah vegetation and plantations rich with mangoes, oranges, cashew nuts etc. through local villages and back to your hotel at 5.30pm.

Although “hot”, this excursion is one of the most popular excursions on the coast and is highly recommended for visitors who are at the coast or in the country for the first time or repeaters.

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