The Region

Kenya’s South Coast has a more rustic feel than Nyali or any of the other suburban beaches immediately north of Mombasa, partially due to its logistical dislocation from the island-bound city, to which it is connected not by a road bridge but by the steady-but-slow Likoni ferry service. South of the ferry, the surfaced A14 sticks to within 2 to 3km (1 to 2 miles) of the seashore for most of its length, veering further inland only as it approaches the Lunga Lunga border with Tanzania, about 120km (72 miles) south of Mombasa.

Living in the South Coast (Diani)

Diani Beach is a ribbon of flawless tropical beach, with white, fine-grained, gently cambered to the ocean and shaded with palms and casuarinas. The ocean at Diani, or rather the inshore shallows, are entirely protected by the fringing reef, massive and solid like a seawall. Nothing can penetrate – no sharks, no other large marine life, and very little pollution. The ocean scenery also seems on a larger scale than anywhere else on the Kenyan coast, subtle and infinitely varied.

When the tide goes out, a half-mile stretch of coral and sand between the reef and shore is exposed as a mosaic of rock pools.