Beach life is good life. Sometimes we lounge. Sometimes we SUP. Sometime we lounge on SUPs.
Will, Justin and I went e-foiling. Justin went several times. Super pro. I also took wing foil lessons. I started to learn to wing foil in the summer of 2023, maybe earlier, I forget. My learning curve is so low angle it’s almost a learning flatline ;) but indeed there’s a tiny angle and I continue to progress. No photos of yours truly in action, so instead a photo of an African wood catamaran??
We went snorkeling. I’m always blown away by marine life.
Going on a sea outing always gives a new perspective on the ocean and coast. The Indian Ocean. Since leaving in August I regularly have the passing thought “I can’t believe … we’re here”. I can’t believe that’s the Indian Ocean. I can’t believe we’re in Kenya. I can’t believe we’re actually doing this trip. I wonder sometimes if I blog to leave an evidence trail for myself.
Being in a glass bottom boat was a neat opportunity to be near the wildlife ;) Wild Will.
Beach life is also camels, kite surfers, and coconuts. Not pictured here are random dudes selling coconuts with straws, ready to drink!!
Primary mode of transport around here is tuk-tuks. The breeze created as they buzz around town is lovely. Most of the time we are paying 10x what locals pay for rides. I know this because there’s a guy, Biggie, that checks on us everyday. Airbnbs in Kenya come with security detail, pool maintenance and more!! Biggie knows everything about everything around here.
Speaking of breezy, Kenya had the most breezy visa application process. So modern. I was able to put our Kenyan Visas in my Apple Wallet. Tanzania visas on the other hand are giving me 90’s vibes. I spent two hours at a cyber cafe because their forms don’t work on mobile devices. No AC. Weak fan blasting hot air at me. Played mental games to stay in the game. Heat zaps your resolve. I thought “this is traveling baby, this is the real muck”. I walked out with 1 out of 4 visa applications complete and paid. Their payments gateway beat me into submission. I will live to fight another day. A more exciting outing was going to a nearby hotel gym. Also no AC. There are no words to explain how much I sweat. Rivers.
How to sum up Galu Beach, the little sister of Diani Beach? Maybe start by saying what it’s not? So many “destinations” have exploded and forever changed from mass tourism and modernization and gentrification. This is not one of them. It is gorgeous and rough and pretty and dirty. It is a tropical white sand beach town. It feels Kenyan through and through. It is not fancy but you can find great comfort. It is really mostly full of Black people, both serving you AND being served and some White tourists too. Honestly the weirdest and oddest and cringiest people here are White. Old lost-in-time White people. Some look like they came here 20 years ago and never left. Rugged white skin, ancient cornrows, dreads. Some look like washed up old rock bands. Some dirty old men with young Black girls. Pains me. But this town is not about them. The locals are friendly, proud and gentle hustlers. They know it’s beautiful here and they know things are screwed up too. “We are number one in corruption, number one in the world” declared our glass boat captain, in kind of a resigned way as we stared at an abandoned beachside resort. The truth will set you free, or not. Headlines in the grocery store speak of young government critics getting abducted by masked, armed men in the middle of the night. While we’ve been here, CNN ran a headline “Kenya’s president promises to stop abductions following wave of disappearances”. Earlier this month thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in Nairobi to demand that the government take action to stop the killings of women and girls. Femticide. NYT headline earlier this month “Rage Grows Over a Spate of Brutal Murders of Women in Kenya”. These are harsh realities. When you point a finger, there are three pointing back at you. Maybe that’s the point. Home is beautiful too, and screwed up too.
BTW on race, Kenya is 99% Black and 0.1% White. The Naroibi airport reflected these demographics. It was full of Black people, a very few biracial families and us. FWIW I felt more comfortable there than in most of South Africa.
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