What's up guys, how are you doing today? It's Tayo Aina here and I'm reporting for DW
from the beautiful Mombasa. And today I'm going to be sharing with you
the history, the culture, the lifestyle of the beautiful people of Mombasa.
So let's jump right in.
Welcome to Mombasa!
Mombasa is a coastal town in Kenya, East Africa. It is also one of the most beautiful places
to explore on the continent due to its location on a coral island in the
bay of the Indian ocean. With numerous beachfront hotels that appeal
to travelers in search of sun, sand, and surf. And its Arab, Indian and
colonial European heritage makes for a wide variety of sights to see.
Before Mombasa became well established as an important port for trade across
the Indian ocean, the general area has long been the site of settlement inhabited
by Bantu-speaking people who engaged in farming, fishing, and local trading.
The old city has a strong middle-eastern vibe with narrow streets, high houses
with carved ornamental balconies, and mosques and temples. The whole town
covers an area of 72 hectares and it's inhabited by a mix of local, Arab, Asian,
Portuguese and British settlers. Most of the buildings also look really vintage with
very interesting door carvings. If you take a walk along the streets you will feel
like you were transported back in time.
Our first place on the list to explore was
Fort Jesus, which was built by the Portuguese and is now a museum. It was built
towards the end of the 16th century on the coastline near old town Mombasa.
I'm here with my tour guide. What's your name?
– Rafael. – Yeah.
We're going to be going around and he is going to be giving more insights on the history of Fort Jesus.
So this is the model of Fort Jesus.
And as you can see it looks like a human body. So we've got the head part, the hands,
the body and the legs, hence the name Fort Jesus.
So from here, we have the first passage, called the passage of arches. And as you can see
the arches are those arches. So all of these is natural, that nothing has been added.
One of the cool parts about this place we
currently are now is that everything you're seeing now was all made naturally.
They just carved it out, every single thing here.
No slavery was used in building of the fort, so the Portuguese used to bring some
of the trading items. And then the local communities they used to come, work,
and then at the end of the day they had been paid in form of the trade items.
Mombasa was a transit place for trade at that time and a getaway to India.
And the fort was built to protect the town from outside invaders.
So from here, this is the ammunition store, and this is where you can see all of it,
no building, but digging. We are currently in the ammunition room now
and this is where most of the ammunition were kept back in the days.
If you look at the walls here, everything here was dug out, basically like carving out
the corals. And then making space for the ammunition. Just check out this space,
this is a really big space, and it must have taken a lot of time to dig this out, right?
Because this is like really, its like coral rocks.
What were they digging it out with?
– Hammer and chisel – Wow!
– Using hand, hammer and chisel. – Wow!
– That must've taken a while. – Yeah!
The Fort stood over a spur of corals and it tells a story of how the Portuguese
at one time ruled the trade routes of the Indian ocean.
I'm learning so much about the history and you can see all these canons here,
they are facing the water outwards. On this other side of this wall is the water, and
this is how they used to defend themselves against intruders and other people
who are coming. It's so interesting to see that everything here was made from
dugout corals, they took chisels and hammers and they were digging, digging,
digging and I can imagine how long it must have taken them to be able to build something like this.
The most interesting thing is that, this is still standing up 'till today.
Don't you guys think that's very fascinating? How long did it take them to build this?
– 1593 to 1596, 3 years. – 3 years!
– Yeah. – Wow.
Until it was completed, and they didn't have tools then or anything.
No tools, no nothing, just manpower. This is the canon ball.
How heavy is it? Very heavy, yeah!
These are Omani doors You're going to see many of them in the old town.
When you go to anywhere the Arabs visited,
this is the style they used to use with their doors.
So for the doors, all of them, even in Lamu, Zanzibar, Omani all they are just the
same features. So the first feature being the chain all around, the chain link, the
flower part, and the metalwork. All of them have all these three from the 18th century.
So this specific door was given to the Omanis after they defeated the
Portuguese. So it was like a present after they defeated the Portuguese. So the chain
used to mean unity, the flower prosperity, and the metalwork, their strength.
Its location ensures that they could see any ship
as they approached. It also tells the story of how many slaves perished from
torture, hunger, and disease as they waited to be transported.
The next stop is the spice market which was home to some of the nicest and
most colorful food spices in Africa. It was very different from what I was used
to as a Nigerian. Our spices have a much sharper feel while this had a softer feel.
Our special curry powder.
– Hm. – I want you to smell like this and you can taste if you want.
– Very nice.
Because of the location on the Kenyan coast which was once an important trade route,
Mombasa has some culinary influences from India starting with the spices.
Our next task was exploring the main town of Mombasa.
I can't help but realize that this place looks very similar to Stone Town in Tanzania
and you can notice that with very tiny passageways like this one that we are just passing
through now and a whole lot of other stuff. We visited Moi Avenue which is known for the
Mombasa tusks, two pairs of giant aluminum elephant tusks crossing the dual
carriageway, the tusk have become a popular tourist destination for the city.
Just across the road from the tusk was Uhuru gardens, I have never seen this
many fruit bats in my life, they were in their thousands.
To explore more of the city, we decided to take a ride in a tuk-tuk which is a
three-wheel rickshaw, it's the best and cheapest way to move around the city.
We visited the Hindu temple in the middle of the city which was unfortunately
closed down due to covid, but we managed to walk around it. Its main attraction
is the eye catching colorful double doors with beautiful carvings. It's open to
everyone to explore for free but make sure to be respectful by removing your shoes before entry.
After a very long day exploring the beautiful
city of Mombasa we decided to stop by and try some local cuisine. We are at a
place called Borabora and we are trying out some "mande". So mande is like rice with the
local spices here. And then there is goat meat as you can see. Here we have, I think
tomato sauce, and here is Naan bread, tomatoes, and a little bit
of pineapple juice to wash it down. So let me try this out and see how it tastes.
Hmmm!
Yummy!
I like it.
The next day we decided to explore the beachfront
which is one of the most popular reasons travelers visit Mombasa. Mombasa has one of the most
beautiful white-sanded beaches in the world.
Along the beachfront are an array of hotels and villas that you can stay at to experience
the Indian ocean. They all range from 100 dollars upwards depending on how nice they look.
This is one of the beaches here that they
have in Mombasa. And as you can see around me lots of people come here on the weekends
to come and chill and also experience the Indian ocean. It is just bordering the Indian
ocean which is also one of the cleanest and clearest in Africa.
Just look at how clear the water is! That's one thing I love about Kenya.
– Nice to meet you, bro! – Yeah, you too!
– Hakuna Matata (No worries) – Hakuna Matata
This is something natural, no chemicals inside, they clean the kidney and the
stomach, the liver. This is very, very nice to wash all the system.
My name is Gabriel, born and raised in Mombasa a.k.a 001. This place is a very nice place to chill.
It's one of the most best places, I can say, to relax.
Me coming out in this place is whereby we come with our friends, and
just come and chill out, let loose of whatever we had (all the worries), everything
during the whole week. So would you say other people from all over
the world should come and visit? – Definitely!
It's something they will miss out on if they don't.
If you need to like have good vibes, it's the most best place to have good vibes, you know?
No negative vibe will be here in Mombasa.
Another cool thing about Mombasa is that they care about sustainability. Plastic packaging
is banned in a lot of shops, so the only thing they would give you is
reusable packaging so that you don't litter everywhere. Because they care about the wildlife
and also the ocean. So it doesn't get to a point where people are just
throwing bottles and pieces of, you know, plastics. Which is a global problem that is
currently happening, pollution of the ocean bed. And that's one of the reasons why
the water is so clear as you can see.
To really experience the beachfront, I'll say
you should try out one of the water adventures here.
We visited the marine park on a transparent bottom boat to see some of the
amazing aquatic life of the Indian ocean. Today, we are currently at the beach, so behind
me is the diving experience, they also have that here, too. And on this side
is the whole beachfront here. We are going to take one of these boats right here and
go all the way out into the sea to go and see some awesome fishes.
So that's the boat we are going with just right there.
They do snorkeling here, those who don't know how to swim, we give them a jacket
or we give them a life ring.
Where I am here, it's quite very deep. It's about 6 meters deep here.
This is a cool experience you can have in Mombasa.
And I think this also shows you the beauty of Mombasa.
Just come out here and then you can feed the fish.
My name is Abdul, by the way, in this place here, the
Government don't allow people to do fishing here.
It's a place where the tourists they come to Mombasa, they enjoy.
Kenya is one of the most beautiful places. We have our own problems but beauty is what stands out.
So would you say more people should come from other countries?
Of course! We love visitors, we are ready for them.
Mombasa hakuna matata. Even the whole Kenya: hakuna matata.
We need more tourists. Welcome to Kenya!
I see a lot of colored buses, what are they called?
Colored Buses? Matatu. So Matatu is what we use to commute every
day from point A to point B, there's a certain route, a certain number and a certain
price depending on the peak hours and off-peak hours.
Yeah and we are proud of the music, the colors, expression of art, expression of who Kenyans are.
What's your best Kenyan dish?
– My best Kenyan dish? – Yeah.
– Rice and Beans. – Rice and Beans?
– Yeah! – Not Chapati?
No, my best is rice and beans.
I'm about to jump on a jet ski.
Safety first.
How was your experience?
Uh man, it was dope man, dope dope dope. Come down to Mombasa and get some of this.
Mombasa's many historical and cultural attractions have made it a popular tourist destination.
It's a melting pod of languages and cultures from all sides of the Indian ocean.
And it's a really amazing place to experience. Having more in common with
Dakar or Dar es Salaam than Nairobi, Mombasa's blend of India,
Arabia and Africa is uniquely enchanting. And many visitors find themselves falling
for east Africa's biggest and most cosmopolitan port. I will definitely
recommend it as one of the best travel destinations to visit in Africa.
Thank you guys for watching, please like and subscribe to DW Travel for more videos – cheers!