The Likone Ferry and how to avoid it …

If you are travelling to the beach resorts of Diani south of Mombasa, you can either fly into Mombasa usually by charter or into Nairobi and south to Mombasa. Alternatively, you can choose an internal Kenya Airways flight. It was the latter route that we took.

South along the coast from Mombasa lies the beautiful beach area of Diani. In between lies the Likone Ferry. This ferry crosses the deep water entrance to Mombasa harbour. There is no way to tunnel or to build a bridge - its too deep and the ships are too tall. On busy commuter days this can really slow down your journey, but it also gives a real burst of local colour. Across the river up to 4 ferries can operate at any one time. Lorries, cars, vans and the whole mass of humanity all queue up to cross. We saw people carrying all manner of things from sofas to potted plants.

The whole journey from leaving your international flight in Nairobi at 09:00 to arriving in Mombasa at noon and travelling on to Diani via the ferry took us till 16:00.

There is a neat way to avoid this, colourful though the journey was.

You can journey across the city of Nairobi and catch the Safari link flight to Ukunda which lies right in the middle of the Diani area. Some flights connect with the morning international arrivals so that you fly for an hour and arrive just 15 minutes from most hotels on the beach. Even if you have to wait till the afternoon you can take an excursion to Giraffe Mahor or Karen Blixen cottages in Nairobi and go down in the afternoon.

Africa Sky features the beach resorts of Gazi, Kinondo, and the Cove and the larger 4 star hotels such as the well reputed Pinewood Village.