Mombasa: A Guide to Kenya's Old Swahili Port

The Santo Mathias bastion and main entrance of Fort Jesus. (Photo: Christian Dubois, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Mombasa, on Kenya's Indian Ocean coast, is the country's main tourist destination: warm all year, with long white beaches, coral reefs, good hotels and an easy-going atmosphere. It is also one of the oldest cities in sub-Saharan Africa. Its heart, Mvita, is an island in a river delta, joined to the mainland by bridges and, to the south, by ferries that run day and night. It is a thoroughly mixed city, and with Nairobi it is the only place in Kenya that is both a city and a county.

A thousand years of trade

Nobody knows exactly when Mombasa was founded. By tradition the first town grew up around 900 AD near today's Old Town, founded by a man named Sheheh Mvita. The Arab geographer al-Idrisi described a prosperous trading post in the 12th century, and the Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta wrote about it in 1330. Mombasa was a city-state of the Swahili Coast, alongside Zanzibar and Kilwa Kisiwani, trading between Africa and the Arab world with routes reaching India and China, and a port for ivory and spices.

Its position on the sea route to India made it a prize. Vasco da Gama arrived on 7 April 1498 and stayed six days; the Portuguese returned to plunder the town in 1505 and 1528, took it in 1529, and in 1593 built Fort Jesus and five smaller forts, turning Mombasa into a Portuguese stronghold. From 1600 to 1832 the Portuguese and the Sultanate of Oman fought over it, and Oman won. When that sultanate split in 1856, Mombasa passed to the Sultanate of Zanzibar, until Britain took it in 1895. The port and the railway to Uganda were built in the years that followed, and the region became the Colony and Protectorate of Kenya in 1920. The Portuguese, Arab and British periods all still show in the city's culture.

Mombasa in 1635, drawn by Pedro Barreto de Resende. (Photo: Pedro Barreto de Resende, Public domain)

The climate is tropical, just 4° south of the Equator, so temperatures change little. The main rains fall from mid-April to late May, with lighter rains in October and November, and the hottest weather, above 32 °C, comes early in the year.

Getting there and around

Mombasa is a transport hub: the end of the Trans-African highway from Lagos and of the railway to Uganda, with Moi International Airport, Kenya's second airport, and Kilindini, one of East Africa's most important ports, which also serves Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda. The flight from Nairobi takes about 45 minutes, over Tsavo East National Park. Since June 2017 a new 530-km railway from Nairobi has cut the journey to about five hours, arriving at the Mombasa Terminus in the western suburbs, with a commuter train into town. Buses to Nairobi take 10–12 hours. Arriving overland from the south means crossing on the Likoni Ferry, free for pedestrians.

In town, traffic is chaotic. There is no regular public transport network, only thousands of matatus (minibuses), plus tuk-tuks, boda-boda bicycle and motorbike taxis, and taxis whose fares are best agreed in advance; ride-hailing apps are a cheaper way to avoid being overcharged. Kenya drives on the left, and foreign drivers need an international licence.

What to see

• Fort Jesus, built by the Portuguese between 1593 and 1596 to guard the port against the Ottomans, is the city's main sight; it was in military use for more than three centuries. The small Butterfly House is next door.
• The Old Town (Makadara and Mzizima), the original city along Tudor Creek north of the fort, is quieter than the rest of Mombasa, with Swahili architecture, craft shops and restaurants.
• The Tusks on Moi Avenue, built in 1956 for a visit by Princess Margaret and made of steel, not ivory, are the city's best-known landmark.
• Leven House was the British Navy's headquarters against the slave trade in the 19th century.
• The neo-Gothic Holy Ghost Cathedral, the ruin of Fort St Joseph, and Hindu temples of the city's Indian community, among them the Shri Kutch Satsang Temple of 1957.
• Fishermen can take visitors into the mangroves of Tudor Creek.

A street in the Old Town. (Photo: FredD, CC BY-SA 3.0)

The Tusks on Moi Avenue. (Photo: Metroskop, CC BY 3.0)

Beaches and the sea

About 13½ km of white sand line the coast. Nyali Beach, near town, is used mostly by locals because the water there is not clean; Bamburi, with its hotels, is much better, with camel rides on the sand. For divers, the Mombasa Marine National Park and Reserve, with the Leven reef, is Kenya's most popular marine park; deep-sea anglers go after barracuda, tuna and marlin. Inland, the Bamburi Forest Trails and Haller Park offer ponds, woods and wildlife, and Tiwi Beach and Mtwapa Creek are quieter escapes to the south and north.

Bamburi Beach. (Photo: DocWoKav, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Haller Park. (Photo: DocWoKav, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Food

The city's cooking mixes African, Arab, Indian, Chinese and European influences, with coconut everywhere: wali wa tui (rice cooked in coconut milk), kuku wa kupaka (chicken in coconut sauce) and mahamri, coconut doughnuts flavoured with cardamom. Don't drink the tap water.

Street food in Mombasa. (Photo: Mar del Sur, CC BY-SA 3.0)

Staying safe

The emergency number is 112. Several governments warn that the city centre is unsafe at night, that car-jackings happen and that there have been robberies on beaches after dark, so take a taxi when going out at night. Mombasa has also seen attacks by the militant group al-Shabaab. Watch for pickpockets, don't flaunt electronics, avoid demonstrations, never enter the slums without a guide, and ask before photographing people; photographing airports, banks, military sites or police without permission is frowned on or forbidden.

Sources

• "Mombasa" from Wikivoyage, by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changed: rewritten in hubnx's own words and condensed; listings, addresses, prices, opening hours and phone numbers left out; each photo under its own licence, credited in its caption. This page is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.