Malindi
Safari Malindi
Perhaps a little less known that Kenya’s Mombasa for beach vacations, Malindi is a town on Malindi Bay, in southeastern Kenya. It sits amid a string of tropical beaches dotted with hotels and resorts are a great choice for a Kenya beach vacation.
Voted the cleanest town in Kenya, Malindi is well served with restaurants, hotels and cafés. With the coral reefs having been declared the Malindi Marine National Park this is a great place for snorkelling and diving, as well as game fishing and surfing.
In the 14th century Malindi was an important Swahili settlement and it became one of the few places on the east coast to welcome the Portuguese. Today you can still see the stone cross erected by Vasco da Gama in January 1499 and the small Portuguese church nearby.
It is not only Portuguese sailors who are welcome these days, but a great many tourists who are drawn to its lovely long beaches. As a result, it has something of a resort atmosphere but this is pleasantly mixed with the earthiness of an African centre. Cotton and sisal production are still major earners, as is fishing.