At 8.00 a clock we will pick you up at your hotel and we will drive to Akamba handicraft
This cooperative employs an incredible 10.000 people from the local area. It is also a nonprofit organisation and produces very fine animal woodcarving. Woodcarvers are people who do carving with their hands. They make the most beautiful carvings. Akamba Handicraft is locates in Mombasa North near Moi International Airport. Because of the handcrafted each one of them is unique. Among the most popular products are animal art crafts especially the Big Five (Lion, Buffalo, Leopard, Elephant and Rhino). There are also variety of human sculpture, depicting both realistic and abstract African Art and many more different items.
During our stay you can look how the man make all the carvings. It is heavy work and you will be surprised about the things they can make. From one peace of wood they can make everything, it is amazing to see!
A visit to Mombasa would not be complete without a visit to the Elephant tusks. These were set up in 1952 to commemorate the visit to the town by Queen Elizabeth 2. The Elephant tusks write the letter 'M'. There are four of these M’s around the city of Mombasa. Everybody can recognize Mombasa because of these Elephant tusks.
We will take a lunch at Ngomongo Villages Park. The park is located in Mombasa North, 15 kilometres from town. The Park is situated in an abandoned MURRAM quarry, that has been reclaimed into a lush forest over ten years period.
Ngomongo villages park is a collection of 9 divers Rural Kenya Tribal Homesteads. Each homestead is complete with a Hut, cultivated crops, domestic and wild animals (like crocodile and ostrich) wild animals traps, charms and even village witch doctor. Each village has tribe specific activities for you to engage in including archery, boating, rafting, forest walk, hook fishing, grinding and pounding maize.
To date, Ngomongo cultural village is fanning out its reclamation exercises to the surrounding farms by recruiting the local farmers into planting trees to mark out their farm borders. The ultimate plan is to fan out the success locally, regionally and then nationally. It is nice to be here because of the animals and the nature! So it’s a good place to relax and to take our lunch. We will take a rest here to get some energy for the rest of the day!
After the lunch we will travel to Fort Jesus. This is Mombasa’s biggest tourist attraction. The metre-thick coral walls make it an imposing edifice, despite being partially ruined. The fort was built by the Portuguese in 1593 to enforce their rule over the coastal Swahilis, but they rarely managed to hold onto it for long. It changed hands at least nine times in bloody sieges between 1631 and 1875, finally falling under British control.
After the entrance you will find a museum which contains ceramics, reflecting the variety of cultures that traded along the coast. When you look trough the ‘windows’ you will have an amazing view over the beach and the harbour. With the sun on your head you will feel free and relax between the old ruins.
At least we will make a walk into Old Town. You will ever remember this walk because of the old buildings, the different cultures you will see, the Muslims, the mosques.
The houses in old town are characteristic of coastal East African architecture, with ornately carved doors and window frames and fretwork balconies, designed to protect the modesty of the female inhabitants. I will show you around and during our walk I will guide you between the different cultures in this ‘old town’.
After this day we will bring you to your hotel.
The price: 75 euro per person for the whole day including lunch, entrees and fuel for the car!
