After our safari in the Masai Mara we headed to Mombasa for some relaxation.

Mombasa is in the south-east of Kenya, it’s a coastal town set along the Indian Ocean.

Mombasa used to be the capital city of British East Africa before Nairobi took this role.

These Tusks can be seen in Moi avenue and welcome visitors to Mombasa. The aluminium replica Elephant tusks were built for a visit by Queen Elizabeth on her visit in 1952. They form an M shape for Mombasa.

Our next stop was Fort Jesus, built over three years by the Portuguese who took control of the Kenyan coast in the late 16th century.

The fort was built to protect the port and its trade.

The Portuguese occupation was challenged by the Omanis who were strong traders along the East African coast. Eventually it was captured by them in 1698 and the Portuguese were routed from the Kenyan coast by 1730.

As you walk through the fort, you can see the original walls of the fort which were heightened by the it’s new Omani inhabitants.

There are passageways from the fort to the nearby harbour with a 3km secret underground tunnel escape route should the fort be breached.

The Omani door below was added around 1850.

The wall paintings below were made by the Portuguese inhabitants and show battle scenes with Omani ships and soldiers.

We ventured into the Old Town of Mombasa.

You can still see the old colonial buildings but sadly little attention has been paid to maintaining these historic buildings.

Below is Kenya’s first hotel, built in 1901.

You can spot the Arabic influence with these wonderfully ornate doors.

We peeked inside the local fish market…

It was a Saturday afternoon, so there was little activity in the hall.

Just a couple of fish, plenty of flies and a rather content cat asleep on a shelf!

Below is Mombasa’s first mosque, built in 1570.

Kenyans seem to have no lack of ingenuity or invention. Due to the busy traffic on the roads, motorbike taxi’s are common.

Equally common is the strong sunshine and so a shade is provided to give the driver and passenger with some relief!

Matatu are pimped up minivans used as private transport vehicles. They often have very impressive custom bodywork, raised suspension, neon lights and high end music systems installed.

The more radical the upgrade the more popular these vehicles are to the young Kenyans using them.

It was great to see the Old Town but it was getting too hot for us!

So we headed back to our beach side hotel, leaving the city chaos behind us.

This is Bamburi Beach, around 25mins from Mombasa city.

Our hotel had a number of Vervet monkeys in the grounds. They weren’t aggressive but were quick to snatch food if given a chance.

Our short stay in Mombasa has come to an end and we headed back to Nairobi.

This time we took the train, a 6 hour journey but a very pleasant one.

The train passes through the Tsavo and Nairobi national parks. We spotted Elephants and Giraffes from our train seats, how cool is that!

Tomorrow we fly to Rwanda, our second country on this African adventure.