Contact & Location

Mombasa is the second largest city in Kenya, lying on the Indian Ocean. It has a major port and an international airport. The city is the centre of the coastal tourism industry. The original Arabic name is Manbasa; in Swahili it is called Kisiwa Cha Mvita (or Mvita for short), which means "Island of War", due to the many changes in its ownership. The town is also the headquarters of Mombasa District which, like most other districts in Kenya, is named after its chief town.

The city has a population of 727,842 and is located on Mombasa Island, which is separated from the mainland by two creeks; Tudor Creek and Kilindini Harbour. The island is connected to the mainland to the north by the Nyali Bridge, to the south by the Likoni Ferry and to the west by the Makupa Causeway, alongside which runs the Uganda Railway. The port serves both Kenya and countries of the interior, linking them to the Ocean. The town is served by Moi International Airport.

Mombasa is the second largest city in Kenya, lying on the Indian Ocean. It has a major port and an international airport. The city is the centre of the coastal tourism industry. The original Arabic name is Manbasa; in Swahili it is called Kisiwa Cha Mvita (or Mvita for short), which means "Island of War", due to the many changes in its ownership. The town is also the headquarters of Mombasa District which, like most other districts in Kenya, is named after its chief town.

The city has a population of 727,842 and is located on Mombasa Island, which is separated from the mainland by two creeks; Tudor Creek and Kilindini Harbour. The island is connected to the mainland to the north by the Nyali Bridge, to the south by the Likoni Ferry and to the west by the Makupa Causeway, alongside which runs the Uganda Railway. The port serves both Kenya and countries of the interior, linking them to the Ocean. The town is served by Moi International Airport.

"The sea at Mombasa is as blue as a cornflower, and, outside the inlet to the harbour, the long breakers of the Indian Ocean draw a thin crooked white line, and give out a low thunder even in the calmest weather." - Out of Africa, Karen Blixen

One of Kenya's most recent marine parks, Mombasa Marine Park lies a few kilometres north of Mombasa Island, slightly north of the Nyali Headland, and comprises a 10 sq km national park surrounded by a 200 sq km national reserve.

Kenya's stunning coastline runs 700 km between the Tanzanian and Somali borders and is renowned for its silken white sandy beaches, coconut palms, sheltered lagoons, pellucid blue waters, remote islands, uncharted mangrove swamps and mysterious Arab and Swahili ruins, many of which date back to the 8th Century AD. An idyllic climate cooled by the monsoon Mombasa offers a daily average of 8 hours of sunshine, and the hot steamy climate is tempered by the monsoon winds: the south-easterly Kaskazi, which blows from April to October; and the north-easterly Kazi which blows from November to March. Protector of one of the world's most famous coral reefs Kenya's world famous marine parks were inaugurated to protect the most outstanding feature of the Kenyan coast: the pristine and well-developed coral reef that extends virtually without break from Shimoni in the south to Malindi in the north, some 230 kms in total. The reef is broken only in a few places by river mouths and creeks; and of these the deepest and most sheltered safe channels through the reef are those that lie on either side of Mombasa Island. It is these safe anchorages that gave the city its strategic role in the coast's turbulent history, and made it Kenya's second largest city and premier trading port serving not only Kenya but also Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Eastern Congo.

Coral reefs provide one of the most fascinating ecosystems on earth, sheltering nearly one million different types of marine life. Forming only in warm seas, they are made by battalions of tiny polyps, miniscule sea anemone-like creatures that live together in colonies; some create a hard skeleton outside their bodies and it is this which eventually forms into stony coral. Coral comes in many shapes, sizes and colours including the open-branched stag's horn coral, the pincushion-like acropora coral, the wavy-branched and plate-like pavona coral, the massively solid favia coral and the convoluted brain coral.

The reef attracts an incredible range of fish, most of which are almost iridescent in colour and fantastically marked. Look out for the celestial blue and jade-green parrotfish, striped zebra fish, multi-coloured angelfish and the soup plate-sized butterfly fish. Clouds of tiny damselfish also often hover above the branching coral, and under deep ledges you may catch a glimpse of the magnificent lionfish with its mane of sharp spikes (a sting from this fish can be very painful). Hunting sharks, rays, turtle and starfish also hunt the reef. Kenya's reef and lagoons also prove popular with the endangered green, hawksbill, loggerhead, Ridley and leatherback sea turtles. Dolphins too are regular visitors to the area (spinner, humpback and bottle-nosed) and can be encountered singly or in schools, above and below the waves.

The beaches that border Mombasa Marine Park North and south of Mombasa are some of the finest beaches in Africa; endless crescents of silver sand bordered by opulent coastal hotels; and with direct access to the coral gardens of the reef. Nyali Beach, Bamburi Beach, Shanzu Beach and Kenyatta Public Beach all enjoy immediate access to the Mombasa Marine Park. Note: Shanzu Beach is very popular with sea turtles, which come here to lay their eggs. Boat trips to the coral gardens Mombasa Marine offers one of Kenya's finest snorkelling venues and all the coastal hotels offer trips, either in glass-bottomed boats or graceful dhows, to the coral gardens. Visitor tip: The best time to snorkel is two hours either side of low tide, when the greatest amount of marine life is revealed. One of the world's top three dive venues Not only is the Kenyan reef one of the most beautiful in the world, but it is also rated by experienced divers as one of the world's top three dive sites, alongside the Great Barrier Reef of Australia and the Red Sea Reef. It also offers year-round clarity and warmth, but also the possibility of spectacular night and wreck dives.

This cool and shaded retreat is one of the last remnants of Africa's once huge coastal forests. Long isolated it hosts some of Africa's most rare and unusual creatures, and makes the ideal escape from the brilliance of the Indian Ocean coast.

Managed jointly by the Kenya Forest Department and the Kenya Wildlife Service, this unique forest lies at the northern end of an arc of forest, which stretches south along the Tanzanian coast to Mozambique. Three types of forest predominate; mixed forest, Brachystegia forest and Cynometra forest. The mixed forest is rich in plant species, butterflies and mammals, the Brachystegia offers the widest range of birds, while the Cynometra forest offers the densest growth and holds the widest range of animal and bird species. The forest is also interspersed with seasonal pools, which burst into life after the rains.

The forest plays host to three globally threatened mammals: the golden-rumped elephant-shrew (90% of its population survives here), the Sokoke bushy-tailed mongoose and the Ader's duiker. Red, blue and common duikers are frequently spotted, as are common waterbuck and suni. As for carnivores, the forest is home to the African civet, the blotched genet and the beautiful caracal, but being largely nocturnal and exceptionally shy the carnivores are rarely seen. Entirely nocturnal are the bushbabies (Garnetts and Zanzibar bush-babies), and the aardvarks, which dig massive holes in search of their favourite diet - termites. Three species of primate can be seen; Sykes' monkeys, yellow baboons and vervet monkeys, while the trees host red-bellied coast squirrels and red-legged sun squirrels. Largest of the forest's mammals are the African buffalo and the African elephant, both of which are rarely seen, preferring to secrete themselves deep in the forest thickets.

Boasting 230 species of birds with a high proportion of rare species, the forest is recognized by Birdlife International as an internationally Important Bird Area (IBA). It affords shelter to six globally threatened bird species, one of which, the Clarke's weaver, is found nowhere else in the world; and another, the Sokoke Scops owl, is found only here and in a small area of the Usambara Mountains of Tanzania.

Damp and shady, the forest makes an ideal reptile refuge. Most frequently seen are the small sand lizards and geckos while the largest reptiles are the Savanna and Nile monitors. Snakes are plentiful, mostly tree-climbers such as twig snakes, boomslangs and green mambas. Chameleons (flap-necked and pygmy) find the habitat to their liking as do both leopard tortoises and hinged-backed tortoises.

The forest's seasonal pools become frog kingdoms during the rainy seasons. Of the 25 frog and toad species recorded, the most noteworthy are Bunty's dwarf toad (which mates belly-to belly), the marbled shovel-shout and the common squeaker frog, while the foamy white masses dangling from branches overhanging the water are the nests of the communally breeding foam-nest tree frog.

Renowned for its flying jewels, the forest hosts some 263 recorded species of butterflies (Britain hosts only 52 species), of which at least 6 are endemic to the coast region. Indeed some 30% of all Kenya's butterfly species are found within the forest.

Insect life is rife in the forest, especially around the seasonal pools where iridescent dragonflies and smaller damselflies congregate. At night the air is filled with the sound of cicadas, while throughout the day the leaf litter is rustled by myriad crickets, grasshoppers, spiders, beetles and termites as well as huge social colonies of tree ants, singing ants and safari ants. Perhaps the most conspicuous insect however is the magnificent but entirely harmless millipede, which can grow up to 20 cm long and is known locally as the ‘Mombasa train'.

An oasis of cool tranquility, the Reserve boasts some fine walking and driving tracks. The best place to start is the Visitor Reception Centre, which lies 1.5 km south of the Gedi and Watamu junction on the Malindi-Mombasa road. Here you can obtain information packs and engage the services (for a small fee) of an official guide, who will not only guide you faultlessly through the forest's meandering trails but will also have an encyclopaedic knowledge of birds, mammals, insects and reptiles.