Holidaying on Bamburi beach, Mombasa

It was a summer in the 1980s when my husband's boss decided to give his employees and their family, a vacation at Bamburi beach resort,Mombasa. We were so excited because we three families who were his employees,were all friends and were getting an opportunity to spend time together . Kenya being near the equator, summers are in December.

Our train tickets were booked and it was an overnight journey.We set out with all excitement. One of the families had two kids so they brought their maid along.

The Kenyan Railway service provided us with a four course dinner,the speciality that was there, which continued from the British days . Linen and blankets were provided for the night journey.We settled in well and enjoyed the ride and had a good night's sleep except for the hustle and bustle at the stops on the various enroute stations.

We arrived at our destination Mombasa and enroute to the beach was fascinated to see on Moi Avenue two pairs of giant aluminium elephant tusks, commissioned in commemoration of Queen Elizabeth's visit in 1952.

We were booked at  Rana Cottages,       , on Bamburi beach. A nice little cottage with two cozy bedrooms, hall and kitchen. Our friend who was single was given accomodation on the couch,which he didn't quite enjoy but had no other choice.

My hubby being a hairy bear and his first visit to a beach resort was reluctant to get into shorts or swim wear and even thought of getting his legs waxed. After being told about the agony that he would have to go through, with such thick long hairs,he decided to venture out showing  off his masculinity.

To quench their thirst in the sultry weather,the men decided that there was nothing better than a cold Tusker beer.

The sea was so blue and beckoning us that we soon got into our beach wear and set out to find that it was low tide. That was an experience for me who had no idea of swimming....you could walk miles into the beach to just lie in that low sea level of water and feel a slight buoyancy.The water was warm and so nice that we spent hours just lying there.

Towards late evening the tides would rise and come in  with such vigour and roaring sound that you would wonder whether this was the sea you witnessed in the morning. The high tide had come in and the place you lay in the morning was so rough you could not demarcate it.

We spent most of our time lying on the sands and sea in the mornings. 

While we were there,we found a beautiful spot near our cottage to watch the sea and sand.

Right  there far away was a real sight to behold! A model strode the beach...she reminded us of Boderick.She would get into the water with a piece of cloth but get out without. She had come to sun tan her body to some kind of perfection, I guess.

This became our past time that even we ladies admired her beautiful body no doubt because she was indeed the epitome of beauty.We did not  restrict the men from ogling at her as we gave them some freedom of course.  In cases like this we couldn't but share the admiration.My hubby sat there glaring into the distance without a word .I thought perhaps any remark made by him would be admonished by me and thereby fearing my wrath, he made no comment. Days went by and not a word was spoken by him although we all got together and made remarks.

The day we were leaving we all took our last glimpses at that lady and then my hubby had so much to say...it left us flabbergasted.He then revealed that all those days he was not wearing his spectacles and hence missed all the fun. We had a good laugh.He wished he could rewind and really regretted it and was reluctant to leave.

Thus ended our holiday on Bamburi beach admiring all forms of nature.