Diani (September)

Amazing how time flies. I was only able to manage a single post between the summer holidays and the end of the year. If I wish to use this blog in the future as a general record of our life events over time, I have some catching up to do.

my hotel in Diani - not bad work accommodations

Picking up where I left off was a trip to Diani Beach back in September. I had been scheduled to be there for meetings and decided that it would be good to combine it with a long weekend with the family. We were in need of a family get-away and the beautiful beaches of the Indian Ocean were a nice option.

spotted during a jog - digging out a buried boat in the hot sun

We had three nights on the coast. Being southern hemisphere, June through September are the most comfortable months to be there. We were at the tail end of the less-than-brutally-hot weather. On Friday I went for a run on the beach. It was mid-morning and I was trying to get my gym workout and run in before the family arrived. The sun was blisteringly hot. I carried water and there was a breeze that kept me from melting completely. It wasn’t ideal but I pulled it off. Reminded me of the runs I used to do in Dar es Salaam, regardless of the season – 35° C/95° F heat or ankle deep in a torrential tropical rain. You just need to make it happen.

The hotel I was staying in for meetings was very nice but as kid-friendly as some places. So we chose a place where we'd stayed previously which was not too far away. As fancy as the hotel was, we had to move out of our meeting room due to a dangerous looking crack in the ceiling. Stuff happens, I guess.

After my workout I caught a taxi up the road a couple kilometers to where we’d be staying, popped open my laptop and waited for the family to arrive.

Soon the girls came bouncing out of a tuk-tuk. That familiar noise they brought can get old when heard for hours on end, but after a week of not seeing them it was music to my ears. Immediately my brain was catapulted from the work that was on the screen in front of me to every minutia of the adventures my daughters had in their transit from Nairobi to Diani.

much nicer beach than the fancier hotel

Priya is more of a warm weather person than I am. I could very quickly sense that she was happy to be back in her element (and happy to be finished traveling). The five years that I was in Dar helped me develop a taste for the tropics (Bujumbura was more tropical-lite; I think Nairobi is officially subtropical highlands) and I confess to enjoying the feel of being back on the coast. I don’t think I’d want to live in a heavy tropical climate anymore but visiting it from time to time is admittedly quite nice.

amazing starfishies

One highlight was taking a boat out to do some snorkeling. Priya and I spent quite a bit of time diving and snorkeling while living in Tanzania but we haven’t done it much over the past few years. Harder to do with young children. But now that the girls are a bit older, and very much enjoy water, we thought we’d give it a try. The older one took to it quite well with the younger one not so much. It’s okay though. It can be a bit freaky to get used to if you’re young and not familiar with schools of fish swimming close to you and even touching your skin. Likely she’ll take to it more next time.

The other outing we did was on camels. That can also be a bit weird for kids, particularly if they’re not used to riding horses much. Nonetheless, they did fine and we were able to amble along the beach for a ways.

Alas, the fun ended and it was time to head back to Nairobi. We arrived home in the afternoon and I would need to get up at 4am the next day to fly to Somalia (Puntland). Ugh. That's what I do, I guess.