Old Mombasa

There were even some nice antique shops, but we agreed not to buy any doors, life size carvings or other cumbersome stuff at the beginning of the trip. Anyway it wont be as easy to carry stuff as on our last travel. Thomas enhanced the gas tank (now 240 liters without external jerrycans). So we have to put the spare wheel on the roof... And therefore only limited space for any sort of old african furniture...

Old port

There was also an old port (with old ships).

Old City

In the afternoon we made a short tour of the old colonial part of the city. Nice houses with beautifuly carved doors.

Too short?

Here is the result (drinking kenyian cofee).

Haircut

Fortunately there was a haidresser within the resort... We choose to share the same style (check Thomas's hair on the previous pictures - not the color though... just the lenght).

Beauty and chill out day in Mombasa

What do grown up men do when they have to sit around idle for a whole day? Sooner or later they do silly things. After a morning massage on the beach I decided to do something for my stuborn hair.

Port of Mombasa

We waited until 4pm... the last hours in the sun at the port. The yellowish top of the container you see in the background in the middle of the picture is the one with the car.

Stuck

Despite the bets combined efforts of the local Mondial agent and the representant of the shipping company we were not able to get the car through customs. So we are back to the hotel (which happens to be a resort on the beach). We will have to sit idle till monday... Well, this is Africa. Time is no issue here. So we wind down our hectic european heart beat and enjoy the day.

Mombasa

We are still stuck and waiting for all the formalities to be done. The ship has not yet been completely unloaded. Thomas has an unflinching patience in doing paperworks.

At least the internet connection works. I' bought a pre-paid GSM card from the local phone operator Safaricom....

We arrived savely in Mombasa. Pretty warm and humid. The sweat is already running down our backs. For the moment we have no internet connection. No local phone operator has a data-roaming agreement with Swisscom. We will try to find a solution tomorrow. For the rest everything worked perfect. Thanks to Pamela for the perfect organization. The challenge tomorrow will be to get the car from the port. The container ship was only able to dock this night. According to the shipping agent chances are 50/50 that we have to stay in Mombasa for the weekend. Well, it's nice here.... But we still hope to start tomorrow. First we have to fill the car with the needed food, water and gas. Then we'll drive towards Nairobi.

From Mombasa to CapeTown

Just two days to go.... On Friday Thomas and myself will fly to Mombasa and from there we will drive around Lake Victoria and then south towards Cape Town. Alltogether around 8'500km in pretty much 3 weeks. The car has been shipped already beginning of January. It is expected to arrive Friday night, just in time to get it through customs on Saturday morning. Here the road map. It is only a rough  plan. We will plan on the go and change the route according to information we get locally.