Kenya
A man passes by with three camels on the beach. He does this journey twice every day. The camels are walking behind him on the snow-white sand proudly.
Behind them the endless Indian Ocean shows off thousands shades of blue.
The sun is high up, spreading its burning rays everywhere. It is a hot day, I can feel that my skin is getting tense and I am getting sleepy by the heat as I lie under the palm trees watching the man with the camels. I brought a book to read, but the surrounding nature, the slow sound of the warm and sandy wind is taking the book away from me and turning my head towards the ocean.
A local man is snorkeling front of me. I know this man, I see him every day. He is the one catching the small octopuses that he sells to the kitchen, which makes delicious octopus-stew.
I have never tried to eat octopus before. I found the animal itself already bizarre creature! I did try octopus here and I absolutely loved it.
Over here, the seafood is delicious and always so fresh. The first place I saw sea-cucumber in the ocean and then ate it for dinner. When you are out here, and feel the heat, you relax immediately. The nature, the culture and the weather just switch of your senses and you feel like you have been dropped into the softest bed ever, where you can sleep endless.
They keep you entertained and they keep you on food and drinks so smartly that you never feel the immediate need of anything.
The ocean washes the beach softly, as I walk down there and put my feet into cooling water, I see the man with the camels again. Front of me a boat is floating on the ocean, it belongs to the snorkeling man.
When he appears at his boat I see his necklace again that he made from small bones. Bones of the fishes he caught and was proud of. Some of the bones belonged to his father, who died a few years ago and who was also a fisherman. They keep these bones as trophies.
It is not as bizarre for me as the witch doctors in the Massai villages we visited a few days ago. Being a witch doctor carries out from father to son or mother to daughter. They make contact with the gods and represent present to them for their mercy and help. They are the one that also carry out major surgeries. They keep bones, skulls and teeth from their ancestors to keep the knowledge close and within the village.
The villages are near by the safari area, where we saw the great red elephants. You drive miles and miles into the wild, towards the mountain of Kilimanjaro that looks like a delicious sponge-cake covered by icing sugar on the top. The colorful birds are slowly flying front of it as you drive, hold onto your binocular searching for some more interesting animals.
I see a starfish as I sit down in the water. The animal slowly moves away from me. I look at it and think about the animals I saw since I arrived. What a wonderful wild-life this country has!
On the safari we saw lions chasing gazelles, giraffes, zebras, hippos, red elephant, ostriches, storks, swallows, rhinos and buffalos. We definitely got what we paid for, and more. The lunch was delicious; I have never had to break the shell of the crab I eat. I have never tried making wraps from roasted octopus and vegetables, and I have never seen so many red elephant around a pond like they had below the restaurant’s terrace.
I lie down in the water, same as how the elephants lied down on the pond at the restaurant. I close my eyes, and let the sun stroke my face with its rays, and let waives washes my body and let the wind tickle my nose. I see the huge trunks spraying water on the giant bodies. I see how the small elephants playing with the water. I see how the buffalos watching them from a safe distance and I see as the sun quietly disappears behind the Kilimanjaro.
I open my eyes, I hear they announcing dinner at the restaurant. The live lounge music sneaks into the cricket chirr of the evening. Before I go I look back, the boat has gone and I don’t see the camels anymore. One day is just about to finish at Mombasa-beach, another beautiful and peaceful day is about to come tomorrow
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