Published on CNN
(CNN) -- To all the locals who have been hoarding the following beaches, please forgive us.
But c'mon, how can you really sleep at night, knowing you're sending all those well-meaning tourists to the same old beaches with the same old towel-to-towel crowds, the same old overflowing trash cans and the same old high-rise hotels blocking the view?
Is it really fair that you keep these gifts from Mother Nature all to yourself?
So, yeah, the jig is up.
As for the rest of you, you can thank us later.
There are five main reasons you've never heard of this wide,
idyllic beach on the Indian Ocean: lions, elephants, rhinos, leopards and
buffalo.
Most tourists associate Kenya with safari and the Big Five. But with some 330 miles of Indian Ocean coastline, that's a gross oversight.
Granted, it's a long flight just for a beach, but why not combine a week at a Maasai Mara safari camp with one of the most interesting spits of sand on the continent?
Watamu offers all the normal sandcastle building opportunities, but there are also other unique local attractions including Watamu Turtle Watchconservation programs and the 13th century Gede ruins. Excavations of the ruins of this ancient Swahili trading village have turned up beads from Venice, a Ming vase from China, lamps from India and scissors from Spain.
And, if you're still jonesing for animals, Gede ruins are home to a troop of friendly Skye monkeys, and the Watamu Marine National Park boasts some of East Africa's best coral.
The largest spitting cobra (Naja ashei) in the world was also discovered here in 2007.
(CNN) -- To all the locals who have been hoarding the following beaches, please forgive us.
But c'mon, how can you really sleep at night, knowing you're sending all those well-meaning tourists to the same old beaches with the same old towel-to-towel crowds, the same old overflowing trash cans and the same old high-rise hotels blocking the view?
Is it really fair that you keep these gifts from Mother Nature all to yourself?
So, yeah, the jig is up.
As for the rest of you, you can thank us later.
Watamu Beach
Kenya
Most tourists associate Kenya with safari and the Big Five. But with some 330 miles of Indian Ocean coastline, that's a gross oversight.
Granted, it's a long flight just for a beach, but why not combine a week at a Maasai Mara safari camp with one of the most interesting spits of sand on the continent?
Watamu offers all the normal sandcastle building opportunities, but there are also other unique local attractions including Watamu Turtle Watchconservation programs and the 13th century Gede ruins. Excavations of the ruins of this ancient Swahili trading village have turned up beads from Venice, a Ming vase from China, lamps from India and scissors from Spain.
And, if you're still jonesing for animals, Gede ruins are home to a troop of friendly Skye monkeys, and the Watamu Marine National Park boasts some of East Africa's best coral.
The largest spitting cobra (Naja ashei) in the world was also discovered here in 2007.
No comments:
Post a Comment