The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
Head to Kenya’s ‘palm-shaded paradise’
The underrated beauty of the country’s coastline is about to become far more accessible, says Sarah Marshall
The Digo people honour a four-day week: two days of work, one day for religious devotion, and the rest of the time is spent at the beach.
Living along Kenya’s southern coastline, sandwiched between surf and sacred forests, their timetable makes sense. Known to hug trees and tuck prayers into cliff crevices, the indigenous community has lived here for hundreds of years, although a growing congregation of outsiders now gathers to worship the sun.
Stretching for 370 miles from Tanzania to Somalia, this section of the Indian Ocean was favoured by seafaring traders, who used the alternating monsoon winds to power their sails for voyages up and down the coast.
Over time, a new type of traveller emerged, attracted by golden beaches, warm waters and year-round temperatures above the mid-20s. But aside from a flurry of mass-market tourism in the 1980s, Kenya has never matched the popularity of neighbouring honeymoon hotspots. Yet it is easier to reach than the Seychelles and far less commercial than Zanzibar.
That could all change now package holiday company Tui has announced it will be selling the destination for the first time since 2014, when it pulled out following violent terrorist attacks by Somali militants Al-Shabaab. A choice of 16 hotels and resorts in Mombasa – some remote and peaceful, others on the beachfront – can be booked throughout the year and packaged with British Airways flights from Heathrow to Nairobi with transfers (typically a one-hour flight).
“Holidays to Kenya have been growing in popularity over the years, particularly with Germany, Poland and the Netherlands,” says Phillip Iveson, the commercial director of Tui UK.
A “hand-holding” holiday with a trusted company will no doubt allay any past fears about the region, especially given the recent terrorist attack on tourists in Uganda’s Queen Elizabeth National Park. But in reality, the area has been calm for some time. “The Kenyan coast was understandably affected by the previous safety issues, but that was a long time ago and the security situation has massively improved,” says Jonny May, the founder of Africa-focused marketing and consulting company Wild Paths. So why haven’t people been coming? “The coast has been largely overlooked due to the success of Mauritius, Seychelles and Zanzibar marketing the ‘desert island experience’ many travellers have been dreaming about,” believes May. “We just offer it on the mainland.”
Another benefit, he says, is the number of “beautiful, secluded spots where you will see very few people”. Alfajiri Villas in Diani is one of several established independent properties reporting an increase in visitors.
“We are seeing lots of multigenerational travel where families are focused on doing the bucket list safari and private beach time together to relax and recharge,” says owner Fabrizio Molinaro, who opened the three luxurious waterfront homes more than three decades ago. The gleaming white stuff of Bounty adverts, Diani is Kenya’s palm-shaded postcard paradise with a distinct difference. During my stay at the villas, I recall shallow reefs shining with starfish, camel walkers strolling along the sands, and colobus monkeys snoozing on my veranda. I was also one of many Covid refugees who sought
sanctuary along Kenya’s carefree coastline during lockdown.
“In the pandemic, we witnessed a large swing to one-country trips, with Kenya ideally positioned to deliver the best of both worlds – bush and beach,” says Greg Fox, a director of African specialists Mahlatini Travel, which reports that the trend is continuing, with a 49 per cent increase in coastal Kenyan bookings this year so far, compared to pre-Covid.
One area where it is seeing an increase of interest is the northern Lamu archipelago – nicknamed “Chelsea by Sea” due to the number of London-based Covid escapees who worked remotely from yoga retreats and affordable villas built from stone and sand.
Close to the border with Somalia and surrounded by an area slapped with Foreign Office warnings, it can only be accessed by air. Carol Korschen, whose family founded trendy hotel and restaurant Peponi in the mid-1960s, once told me successive travel bans had ironically saved Lamu from being besieged by tacky mass-market resorts. In a bohemian bolthole where time seems to stop, braying donkeys traipse through sandy streets and wooden dhows drift between islands.
Lured by the novelty of being in a place where A-list status is meaningless, make-up guru Charlotte Tilbury and ballet maestro Wayne Sleep both own George and Amal Clooney also reportedly visited last year.
Meanwhile, Lippa and Tarquin Wood, who own House in the Wild in the Mara’s Enonkishu conservancy, are the latest investors. Their House on the Beach project will open on Kizingoni beach, a remote area of Lamu island, in November next year.
“Lamu has such a magical vibe, there is nowhere like it,” says Lippa. “There have been sightings of whales and dolphins, and a dugong was found in the mangroves. We will generate conservation fees from our guests in the same way we do in the Mara and will be making a huge effort with beach cleanups and community projects.”
Candlelit dinners, watersports, fishing trips and exploring the archipelago by dhow are some of the activities they hope to offer guests.
The Swahili culture, mainly focused in Unesco World Heritage Site Lamu Old Town, is also a big attraction.
Built in coral stone and mangrove wood, many buildings have intricately carved doorways.
A little further along the coastline at Matondoni village, it’s possible to watch traditional boat-builders crafting dhows under the gaze of the Lamu Eye – a star and crescent logo originally used by navigators.
Further south, the ruined historic Swahili town Gedi is one of several excurproperties. sions offered by Hemingways Watamu, the biggest and best-known luxury hotel group on the Kenyan coast, overlooking a marine park. “Guests don’t want to just flop in the hotel any longer,” says Ross Evans, a director of the Hemingways Collection, which offers day trips to the 100ft-high Mambrui Sand Dunes, Marafa Hell’s Kitchen gorge and Africa’s largest remaining indigenous coastal forest, Arabuko-Sokoke.
The combination of beach and bush has always been popular. In the past, most tourists have opted to twin their Kenyan safaris with Zanzibar. But it’s much more convenient to stay in Kenya: Tsavo East and West and Amboseli National Park are within easy reach by road, while Mombasa Air Safari operates one-hour direct flights to the Mara.
Tui has plans to launch its own sea and savannah twin-centres, with a choice of several two- or three-day tag-on tours, keeping luggage conveniently stored at the hotel until travellers return from the bush.
“We recognise that many people may see the region as offering luxurious and expensive safari trips, but our holidays cater to people wanting to enjoy a relaxed beach break with a taste of safari that’s great value,” says Tui’s Phillip Iveson. “Our short safari options will appeal to families with young children in particular.”
A shorter half-day tour to Kaya Kinondo, a sacred forest protected by the Digo people, will also be available, giving guests a taste of a culture that has always celebrated rest and relaxation.
In a place where life is “pole, pole” (“slow” in Swahili), nothing happens too quickly. But a coastline whose story has been shaped by monsoon patterns for millennia is now experiencing new winds of change.