Mombasa Ferry

Synopsis

When I set foot on the Mombasa ferry for the first time I imagined, as a naive outsider, “Ah, the biggest and busiest ferry in Africa! It’ll be all hustle and jostling promiscuity, with groping hands, raucous song, clandestine vendors, pickpockets!” But no. This is East Africa, the Africa of distance and reserve. Swahili country, from ‘sahil’ which means ‘coast’ in Arabic. Africa mixed with the Koran. Masai elegance and Muslim propriety.