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History and sea sports in Malindi

Friday December 07 2018
malindi

A model of ‘Jaws’ at the foyer of the Malindi Sea Fishing Club, caught off the waters of Malindi in 1996. PHOTO | RUPI MANGAT | NMG

By RUPI MANGAT

Malindi, on Kenya's North Coast, like most towns on the East African seaboard, has an interesting history dating back centuries.

So if you find yourself in Malindi this holiday season be sure to visit as many sites as possible and explore the cultural and culinary delights.

On a recent short visit to the town, I was met by my host Roger Sylvester of the Driftwood Club, one of Malindi’s most visited places. It is here that windsurfers and kite-surfers descend to ride the waves.

Sylvester took me out on a morning tour of the town, and our first stop was at the statue of Mekatilili wa Menza, the fiery heroine who led the Giriama community in a rebellion against British colonial rule in 1913-1918.

She died in 1924 and was buried in the Dakatcha woodlands outside Malindi.

he Dakatcha woodlands is a tapestry of wetlands interspersed with villages and farms and also home to Hell’s Kitchen, a series of eroded gulleys of phenomenally sculpted red earth and home to rare birds like Clarke’s weaver and the Sokoke scops owl.

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Henry the Navigator’s monument:

This is inside the grounds of the Malindi National Museum. Nicknamed the Mast Pond, Henry’s monument was unveiled in October 1960 by the Portuguese consul in Mombasa to honour the prince 500 years after his death in 1460.

Though the prince never travelled, he sent many expeditions to West Africa and beyond.

The monument also honours the Sultan of Malindi and Ahmed Ibn Majid, the local Malindi marine pilot who navigated Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama out into the ocean and set him on the right route to India.

Long before Vasco d Gama, Malindi had maritime and trade relations with the Far East through the ports of the Gulf of Aden, India and beyond.

A few minutes’ drive north of the monument is the quaint makuti-thatched Portuguese Chapel built by Vasco Da Gama in 1498 on his epic voyage to India via Malindi.

The church compound contains the graves of two sailors buried there in 1542 by St Francis Xavier, who retraced Vasco Da Gama's voyage to India.

On the same street as the church is the century-old House of Columns, served as a palatial home, hospital and museum and now a library.

Malindi Sea Fishing Club:

Being a keen fisher, Sylvester suggests we head to the famous the Malindi Sea Fishing Club. But before that, he said: “I have to show you the best beach in Malindi,” and drives off the main road from the town centre which opens onto a clear stretch beach and the ocean.

It’s six kilometres of no buildings, stretching all the way to the Sabaki River and the towering sand dunes of Malindi.

Then back to the club. Right in the foyer of the club is a jaw-dropping model of a shark hanging from the ceiling with its jagged razor sharp teeth bared.

Its nicknamed Jaws. It’s a model of a real shark caught off Malindi in July 1996. The fish weighed 2,500 kilogrammes and was seven metres long.

“Malindi is the best place for deep sea fishing,” explains Sylvester. The season runs from July till March.

The Malindi Sea Fishing Club has many other exciting fish stuff like a model of the, a Blue Marlin weighing 567kg that was caught on March 18, 1995 in Malindi waters.

Deep sea fishing is a huge sport in Malindi, attracting anglers from all over the world for its stock of billfish: Black, Blue and Striped Marlin, Sailfish and Broadbill Swordfish.

It’s one of the few spots in the world where anglers can try their hand at a Grand Slam (three different billfish a day), a Super Grand Slam (four different billfish in a day), and a Fantasy Slam (five different billfish species in one trip).

Our last stop is at the Malindi Golf Club, a charming club by the seafront with a rare cycad and baobab by the fairways with flamingoes by the banks and a hippo lounging in the middle of the occasional water.

Further out at sea, local fishermen are casting their nets. I enjoy the cool ocean breeze as I sip a cold drink on the verandah.

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