Peter and I had a bitter-sweet trip last weekend for his 70th
birthday on Feb 1st!
Despite the 20 hour trip that Mary and I endured on the train
from Mombasa to Nairobi on my birthday in December, we decided that it must have been an
isolated one-off linked to heavy Christmas traffic. The timetable says the journey will take 12 to 14 hours. As Peter hadn’t been on
this train for 50+ years, he wanted to relive something that had been a big
part of his school years: the termly overnight train ride from coast to capital and back.
We fully expected to arrive in Mombasa just after breakfast on his birthday.
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| Just like the old days... |
We left Nairobi station at 20.00h, only an hour late. The sleeping
carriage, though shabby, was reasonably clean, the evening meal edible and the
company equable.
We retired to sleep with Peter, singing the 'Runaway train went down the track and it blew...'(remember that kids? Dad's favourite lullaby for you!) He wanted to ring Elizabeth to
let her hear the familiar sound of the clunking wheels. You'll be glad to know that I stopped him phoning
you, Elizabeth, but we have it on video!
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| The runaway train...? |
We awoke at dawn as we drew into a station. Peter joked, “Don’t tell me it’s Makindu…”. Makindu is where we’d had an eventful puncture on our way to Tsavo
with Catriona and Fritha in early January: it’s less than half way to Mombasa! Without my specs I squinted
and spelled out: M…A…K…I…. Yep: we were on a slow train ride to Mombasa
again!
Reaching Voi only by midday some German fellow travellers jumped train
and decided to flag down a passing matatu (small bus). We had slight sympathy
for the matatu as one of our Teutonic friends must have been well over 20
stone! We decided to sit it out, enjoy the view, knowing we had the Mombasa Club booked for the night. This year we have both spent
our birthdays on the Nairobi - Mombasa train!
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| Arriving in Mombasa |
Why the trains are going so
slowly is a matter of debate but we generally think the track is in bad shape and,
with a promise of Chinese investment to build a new line, this current one is
not being maintained.
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| Mombasa station...nearly home? |
Peter’s dampened birthday spirit was revived by arrival in Mombasa by 17.30, the recognition of familiar sights and our warm
welcome at the timeless Mombasa club ... hardly changed over 50 years, with a breezy room and a great view of the bay.
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| The timeless Mombasa club |
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| The club pool |
After a quick swim
in the unchanged pool, we had a wonderful seafood platter for dinner on the
warmest Feb 1st birthday evening since we’ve known each other!
We had a rapid walk around the old town after breakfast but
even Peter's pretty good Swahili couldn’t avoid the immediate arrival of a 'guide' who couldn’t be thrown off. So we curtailed our walk and got a taxi to nearby Nyali beach where
we were booked to stay for one night at the big hotel near Peter’s old house
and go in search of his childhood memories…
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| 'Now where did we used to live?' |
We were last here in the mid ‘70s when we had found the
house where Peter‘s family lived in the 50’s and early 60’s with ease, and met
the expat lady living there.
This time Peter wandered up and down the beach in
puzzlement. He knew approximately how far he should be from the hotel; from the
army camp that is still there; from a nose of rock that apparently had been
washed away. The houses on the beach were either dilapidated or reconstructed
into non-descript blocks of flats behind high concrete walls.
We retraced our
steps as it dawned on Peter that what he was looking for was the most
dilapidated of all the houses: set back from the beach, a small white bungalow
with a collapsed makuti roof and unkempt garden, now looking as if a local
family was living there. The photos tell it all...
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| Tempus fugit |
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| '...and we walked through there to get to the beach' |
Time had not been kind to this
memory.
What hadn’t changed was the intensity of colours: sky, sand, flowers and foliage.
...and the sound of waves breaking on the reef...
We swam lengths in the huge hotel pool, collected a sand sample, slept fine and flew back to Nairobi on Monday (taking 40 minutes where the train had taken 22 hours!)
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| Colourful Kikois on Nyali beach |
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