© Richard Randall

Caribbean

Sundries

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.

FORT JESUS

We walked from our hotel to the fort. Fort Jesus looked rather bleak and was showing signs of decay, but once we were inside we could see that it was once more than just a fort it would have been more like a small town. Once a very important part of life in Mombasa, it changed hands nine times between the early nineteenth century and 1875. In 1631, at the time of the first takeover, the revolt resulted in the killing of every last Portuguese. The Portuguese, waiting in Zanzibar, did regain occupation as the Sultan did not have any support from the other towns under Portuguese domination, and he fled the fort. For the remainder of the seventeenth century they continued to hold Mombasa, primarily consolidating their control of the Indian Ocean trade. With the Omani Arabs gaining power and as English, French and Dutch ships began to appear on the horizon, time was running out for the Portuguese trading monopoly. In 1696-1698 Fort Jesus was besieged into submission by the Omanis. Almost three years later all the defenders, Portuguese corps and about 1500 Swahili loyalists, had died of starvation or from the plague. In 1728 disenchantment with the forts new Arab rulers resulted in a mutiny among the African soldiers at the fort. Back came the Portuguese for just one year, until the fort was again besieged, shattering Portuguese power on this coast forever, the Portuguese did not put up much of a fight this time. Then came the new Omani rulers, the Mazuri family declaring themselves independent of Oman. The Busaidi family had recently seized power in the Arabian homeland. Civil war in Oman prevented the Busaidi family from taking any action against their over seas agents. Through lack of unity there was to be no lasting independence on the coast. Intrigue in the Lamu archipelago led to the Battle of Shela and the invitation to the Sultan of Oman, Seyyid Said, to occupy its own fort, a disastrous move. With the backing of Britain the Busaidis attacked Mazrui Mombasa continuously during the 1820’s. In 1824 a British Officer, Captain Owen, caused a stir when fired with enthusiasm for defeating the slave trade, extended British protection on his own account, even though the British officially supported the slave trading Busaidis. This protectorate of Owen’s caused diplomatic embarrassment and not surprisingly was withdrawn rapidly. The Busaidis government were installed when the twelve tribes of Mombasa fell into a dispute over the Mazuri succession and called in the Busaidi leader, Seyyid Said. In 1840 he moved his capital to Zanzibar from Oman, and now that Mombasa was garrisoned the bulk of the coast became his domain. Surviving members of the Mazrui family went to Takaunga and Gazi. British influence was sharpened after they quelled the mutiny of al-Akida, commandant of the fort, in 1875. With British leadership established, they leased the coastal strip from the Sultan of Zanzibar and Fort Jesus became Mombasa’s prison up until 1958. Now Fort Jesus (8:30am-6:30pm) is a much quieter place, a large museum, monument, with trees giving much needed shade inside behind its gigantic walls. An Italian architect is responsible for the angular construction, the idea of which was that as any would be intruders attempted to scale the walls they would always be under fire from the bastions. The Omani House, situated in the far right corner as you enter is where you can get a great view from the roof out over Mombasa. The Hall of the Mazuri has beautiful stone benches and eighteenth century inscription. There was a cafe where we sat for a much needed drink, not alcohol for a change, we enjoyed some delicious lime juice. The museum also had a restaurant serving meals and light snacks. The museum is situated where the soldiers’ barracks block would have been. There were pottery displays, some of which had been imported from China, many of which are apparently over a thousand years old. There was an interesting stall constructed using the vertebrae of a whale, along with lots of other objects. There was an ongoing exhibition on the wreck of the Santo Antonio de Tanna, which sank in 1697 whilst attempting to halt the siege of the fort. About 7,000 objects had been recovered from the ship, which was still resting nine fathoms down in the harbour. After walking round the fort for hours we walked back to our hotel, tired and ready for a shower.

Harbour Boat Trip

We boarded the boat along with two other couples. It was unusual for us as to have gone on something like this as we prefer to do things by ourselves. The boat took us round the harbour and we enjoyed lovely views of Mombasa. During the trip we pulled up along side a floating market where local people offered us various craft work. We didn't buy anything but one of the other couples on board bought some jewellery. We sailed round a little longer before we docked for lunch. It was just us three couples eating at the restaurant, which specialised in seafood, for lunch. Most of the courses were served to us in shells or coconut cups. The food was nice, and it was soon time to board the boat again for the return trip. It wasn't the most exciting day we have had, but nice enough. We briefly popped back to our hotel before heading out on to Moi Avenue for a drink.

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We spent a lot of time eating and drinking in various places on or near Moi Avenue, one of our favourite places was Le Bistro, Moi Avenue, open from 9:30am-midnight. It was owned and run by a lovely couple, he was originally from Germany and used to be a chef, and his wife was originally from Somalia. Le Bistro was very popular with local people for food and late night drinking. When we first started going in there we were the only white customers, until one lunch time we met and got chatting to a man who was the manager at the flour mill. As the owner used to be a chef in Germany the food was particularly good. The menu was broad with lots of grilled dishes and delicious salads and lovely fresh seafood. It wasn't long before we became friends with the owners, probably due to the sheer amount of time and money we used to spend in there! They set up a bar tab for us which was much appreciated, we could drink and eat to our hearts content and then just pay our bill at the end of the night. Although they officially closed at midnight we often stayed behind chatting and drinking until the early hours. The funniest evening we ever had at Le Bistro was when Richard, myself and another guy we had met, had been happily drinking, laughing and chatting with the owner and his wife. We were in there all night and it was beginning to get light again, so we thought we had better leave and let the owners get some sleep. We settled our bill and the guy who had also been buying lots of drinks was given his bill. He said that he didn't have any money on him! We couldn't believe it, what a cheek to have sat there all evening ordering drinks knowing full well that he could not pay for them. By now one of the owners had gone, leaving his wife to lock up. She was not happy that this guy couldn't pay his bill, but agreed to let him come in tomorrow with the money. I know it wasn't really our business but we thought that he would probably not return and we didn't want to let him get away with not paying for his drinks. The restaurant had a Masai Warrior as a door man and we had thought that he was probably just for decoration for the passing tourists. It turned out he was a genuine Masai Warrior, and his weapon was real and ready to sort out this matter. By now our drinking ‘pal’ was looking quite worried, he said he had the money at home. So Richard suggested that the Masai man walked him to where he lived to collect the money he owed for his bar bill. They set off, as we waited for them to return the owner said she was pleased that we were forcing him to pay as he had done this before! Everyone was just so laid back in Mombasa, I don't think they liked to make a fuss. Anyway ages later the Masai and his victim returned, they did not have the money, apparently when they got to his home, conveniently he couldn't find his keys! The owner of the bar didn't want him to be injured by her doorman who was ready to some damage, so Richard made a suggestion. He said lets strip this guy of all of his clothes and keep them until he returns with the money he owed. She thought this was an excellent idea. So she told the guy to strip, he reluctantly took off his shoes, he said they were his only pair, then he removed his trousers, jacket and shirt. Richard and the owner thought he should be totally naked, so they told him to remove everything! He wouldn't, so the Masai doorman, the owner, and Richard grabbed him and stripped him, he was struggling and pleading, saying that he would catch his death walking home naked. I couldn't help, as I was too busy laughing as this mad spectacle unfolded. His underpants were just about to be removed by the Masai when the owner relented and let him keep some dignity, then he was thrown out into the night. She said he would feel very ashamed walking home, as anyone who saw him would know that he must owe someone money. We walked back to our hotel enjoying the cool early morning air.

Oceania