Today I would like to write about my experience and adventures in Mombasa and Kilifi. I arrived in Mombasa, not really prepared for this city and this district. My friends just said go there, Mombasa is beautiful. So I wanted to see this beautiful city. Most of all, I was curious about the sea. With 1,208,333 inhabitants, Mombasa is the second largest city in Kenya and the most important port city in East Africa. The city is located on Mombasa Island on the Indian Ocean and is the capital of the county of the same name. What should I tell you, everyone knows Mombasa. As soon as I got out all hell broke loose on me. Matatu drivers, even female drivers, stormed me, harassed me, didn't let me breathe. That was scary.
"Where are you going, Mzugu?" "Mtwapa," I replied. "Long way, 5000!" As soon as the number was mentioned, someone else shouted: "4500!" "4000!" And so it continues. I was surrounded by these boars. The last offer was in 2000. I didn't know where Mtwapa is, how far away it is, I booked a hotel over the internet. That got too much for me. "If it is not possible to get a normal price, I will walk!" I took my backpack and slowly walked down the street. The parking lot where the matatus stood emptied, soon there were only a few left. Someone ran after me. "Mzungu, wait, I have an offer for you!" I waited. It was a shared taxi that wasn't quite full. The price was acceptable so I went back and got in. It took another half an hour, then we drove off.
I can't say where we were going, I have no idea. I can only remember one bridge. One by one got out, I was the last. I had never seen the hotel before, only on the picture on the Internet. But whatever. Mtwapa I'm here! Mtwapa is a city in Kilifi County in Kenya. The city is located about 16 kilometers northeast of Mombasa on the Mombasa – Malindi road. Mtwapa Creek is an inlet of the Indian Ocean near Mtwapa, which forms the border between Mombasa and Mtwapa. Mtwapa is a satellite city and it is part of the metropolitan area of Mombasa. It's warm and humid; I sweat. I come from the highlands and I am warmly dressed. The hotel is closed! What bad luck too! What can I do? It's not nice here, I don't like the area. Doesn't look good here, I imagined it differently. There can be no talk of a beautiful city here. It's dirty, dusty and dirty here. A tuck-tuck is coming. He stops. "Can I help?" It is a young man. Who in this country is older than me? Everyone is younger and more beautiful. But whatever? "Yes," I said, "I'm looking for a hotel, if possible open and not too expensive." "How much do you want to spend?" "2000, about" "Get in, I'll take you there." "What does this cost?" I have become cautious, I learned in Kenya. Caution is the mother of the porcelain box, as we say. "200" I got in, couldn't be far. And really, after a few street corners we stop. "Here it is! Check it out, if you don't like it there are several other hotels." I stayed. Wasn't the best but acceptable, located on a side street, far away from the crowd, the bars, ... But more about that later. As I said, I was very interested in the sea, I wasn't interested in the city of Mtwapa at all. And in retrospect, that wasn't wrong either. I asked for the way to the sea. They showed me the direction and I started walking. Down a narrow street, dusty. I noticed the houses, everywhere signs saying "rooms available". So many houses, everyone is looking for guests. Several people were sitting at a table, a white woman with three black men. She smokes, looks at me with interest, and so do I. She looks old, it's not the wrinkled skin that makes her old. I go around the corner, there is a bar, people are sitting at a table in the shade, this time the other way around, a white man with some black women. “Hello, Mzungu!” One of them calls out and waves. I wave back, move on. Soon I'll be at the sea. What a sight! Mangroves, swamps, flies, a lot of people, one bar at a time. Everyone screams: "Come here, have a beer" A huge German flag is there. Maybe 5 meters long. Some whites are sitting around. I ended up in "Little Munich". I don't like that. There is nothing here that would impress me positively. As a white man, I have no peace here. It's time to eat. I'm going back to town, looking for a bar. Massage parlors along the street. Signs in German. "Leberkäse" Where am I here? Everywhere girls, women all look at me. Waiting for customers, they are prostitutes. Men sit around, apparently having nothing to do, are perhaps the beneficiaries of these ladies. What do I know.
I ask for an acceptable beach, they tell me. I drive there. Call the tuck-tuck driver, he'll drive me. "Lots of white people here?" I ask him. "Not as many as before." The poor prostitutes, I imagine, no business, no food! No whites, no life! After a few kilometers we arrived. The beach. One hotel after another. One luxury house after another. The sea is shallow, the surf far out, here on the beach the water is calm. I go to the beach. Get dismayed by some, buy this, buy this, the old lyre. You have to get used to that. Kenya is full of it. I would be arrested. I've already reported about it, I don't want to repeat that. Here is the link to the story. https://charlykappel.blogspot.com/2021/08/arrested_22.html?m=1 Here a few words about Kenya's police. Corruption is widespread among Kenya's police. Kenya's National Police Service is considered the country's most corrupt institution, and bribery is reportedly the only way to speed up access to police and services (HRR 2016). What I would like to add here are my thoughts on Mtwapa, Mombasa and Kenya in general. On the beach, which is public, there is a large board. This board shows what is and what is not allowed on the beach. I noticed one thing. There is forbidden topless without, i.e. not covering the breasts. And that got me thinking. Bare breasts are forbidden, prostitution is - although not allowed - but accepted. The church preaches, but keeps silent before prostitution. It is easy. Bare breasts don't bring you anything, no tired shilling, prostitution brings a fair amount of money. And money denies life! Just like the government, which is also keeping quiet as if the problem doesn't exist. The white people I saw in Mtwapa, of course not all, there will be others too, are old. They just take advantage of people's plight. Old men, young women! And the whites are not ashamed! The blacks make fun of these impossible whites on the one hand, and on the other hand they pull the money out of their pockets. Don't bother me at all. They didn't deserve it any other way.
Here I would like to mention an article from a Kenyan newspaper.
Sex tourists prey on minors pimped by own parents in Mtwapa https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/big-read/2019-05-17-sex-tourists-prey-on-minors-pimped-by-own-parents-in-mtwapa/
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