Getting Comfortable
Life on campus wasn't all work and no play. One Sunday, the director of the school took the four newbies and their families to a town called Diani for a lovely lunch at a hotel on the beach. My first taste of the Indian Ocean (from Kenya)! Bliss.
To get to Diani, which is to the south of Mombasa, you first have to cross a channel by ferry. Oh my goodness, it took SO long to get on the ferry. We actually had to wait for a third ferry before our vehicle could board.
Then we drove through a fairly rough-looking area by the ferry, through countryside, and finally turned seaward. Finally we arrived at 'The Sands at Nomads.' The hotel and restaurant are situated within a lovely forest right on the beach.
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| Unfortunately, you see camels fairly often here being used as tourist attractions. It's a little heartbreaking. |
While we were eating lunch, a group of young men suddenly appeared on the beach and started to perform acrobatic feats. I was wildly impressed by their physical courage. They were performing for tips.
The Aga Khan Academy campus borders the Mama Ngina Waterfront, much of which is a lovely park. For about the first month of my stay on campus, the park was closed because of Covid-19 restrictions. And then suddenly it opened! One Saturday I took the opportunity to walk along the entire waterfront.
At one end of the park is a grove of baobab trees. The baobab fruit is huge, and apparently is one of those fruits that has a hundred different uses.
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| The fruit of the baobab tree |
I saw a man using a long stick to knock some of the fruit down. I think it against the rules in this particular park, because a security guard came over and calmly stopped him.
From campus, I had seen black-headed herons flying overhead. And one evening, I spied a number of herons in a tree in the distance. I was so thrilled when I entered the park, and discovered that there was a huge flock of black-headed herons nesting in the baobab trees! I was so excited, walking from tree to tree, craning my neck back for a better look. And all of the Kenyan visitors in the park were pretty entertained by this weird white woman freaking out over birds!
