Kenyan coast part 3

Day Five


After another overwhelmingly attentive meal at Mida Creek Eco Lodge, Benson and I set out for our canoe trip. We walked about 20 minutes through farms and pastures to the creek and found our boat "Captain." My dreadlocked Skipper was an interesting sight, as he was standing by the water with no shoes and just a long stick...and no boat! After a few minutes of waiting and some loud whistling by the Skipper, I saw a canoe approaching in the water. Benson and I were told to ditch out shoes, and we "walked" along the muddy creek bed towards the canoe - but the mud was deep, sticky and quite tricky to navigate, and more than once my foot got stuck so deep that I had to grab a hand to pull it out or both feet would get stuck.

Typical traditional house

Eventually we made our way to the canoe, the men in it jumped out, and we jumped in. Benson and the Skipper used the long pole and a paddle to push us through the creek and we navigated towards an island upriver. It was quiet and beautiful. The water was calm, there were NO other tourists, and it was a beautiful sunny day. After a while we made it to the island, and we hopped out to explore.

Lovely day for a canoe trip

A small community of people lived on the tiny island in the middle of the creek, and Benson took us to the village where I was offered "coconut wine." In theory, that sounds kind of delicious....but the more I asked about the homemade beverage the more nervous I became. It wasn't made from actual coconuts, it was made from the flowers of the coconut palm: when the tree flowers, some guy shimmies up the tree, ties ropes around the flowery bit and binds up the whole flowering part into a sort of pod, and then the flowering parts all ferment. Then, they "tap" the fermented pod of flowers and let it drain into a bottle. The result is a milky, white liquid that I can only describe as awful.

Coconut "wine" - aka mnazi

I was handed a water bottle full of the stuff, a wooden straw, and a small shot glass. I was told to pour a cup, let it settle, and drink with the straw off the top (to avoid whatever gunk sinks to the bottom of the cup). It smelled like sour socks. It looked like spoiled milk. It tasted like the combination of the two....I really tried to like it, and I pride myself on enjoying adult beverages that make most people recoil, but this was the most foul beverage I have EVER tried. The locals call it mnazi, but man, if anyone ever offers you some just run away!

After handing the rest of my bottle to the Skipper and trading it for a fresh, delicious coconut, we walked through the rest of the little village. It started to rain, so we ducked into an empty room in the local school house. I guess I wasn't fast enough, because before I knew it little kids were dashing by the door trying to get a peek at me. When I realized it, I hid behind the door and jumped out and startled the next kid who tried to sneak by and steal a glance. The kids loved it and suddenly the whole room was full of little ones shaking my hands, touching my hair, and trying to play with my camera. I let them hold the camera and take pictures of each other, which they loved, and we were all entertained until the rain finally stopped.

We said goodbye to the adorable kiddos and headed back to the canoe and headed to lunch. We paddled to a tiny, deserted island























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