KENYA - GALU BEACH: NOT LOBSTER FOR DINNER AGAIN !
by Robert Tilley



Our cook, Freddy Kalama, looks crestfallen. "I’m afraid the fishermen have only brought lobster again, Bwana."

So, for the second evening running, we settle down to a meal of lobster, prepared with Freddy's matchless butter sauce. Oh, life can be so stressful as a pampered guest at Pinewood Village Beach Resort, on Kenya's dazzling Indian Ocean coast.

Freddy is one of a large team of African chefs whose services are included in the all-in rate for the 20 suites of this very attractive "boutique" resort on Galu Beach, about 40 kilometers south of Mombasa.

If we had tired of lobster, Freddy had a menu of 300 dishes to choose from, ranging from Kenyan specialties such as grilled springbok to homespun specials like shepherd's pie. Freddy's sauces alone have made him one of Pinewood's most sought-after chefs, and many regular guests make it a condition of their booking that the 35-year-old self-taught cook is assigned to their suite.

Freddy and several other Pinewood chefs were recently taught the basics of Thai cuisine by a visitor from northern Thailand, and exotic fare such as Tom Yam Goong (spicy shrimp soup) and Pla Biau Wan (sweet and sour fish) are now part of his repertoire.

Pinewood's airy suites form the ground floor of African-style villas that dot the extensive grounds bordering a deserted beach of dazzling white sand. The upper floors of the white stucco villas each have two double rooms, which come without kitchen facilities. Although this means room guests have no personal chef, Pinewood has a full range of dining possibilities – from a fine atrium restaurant (with a coconut palm soaring through its roof) to a poolside snack bar, a beach front bar and dining area and a bistro complete with a pizza oven carved out of pure rock.

The bistro is part of Pinewood's newly-opened water sports centre, the finest and best equipped on Kenya's long coastline. An ancient, beached Arab dhow serves as a romantic lounge-bar, while the maritime theme of the center is taken up by the boat-shaped bar itself.

Boats from the center take guests on fishing trips beyond the reef that protects this section of the coastline, but we chose to drive further down the coast and embark on a dhow voyage to Kenya's wonderful Kisite marine park.

The voyage began at the tiny harbor of Shimoni, just north of the Tanzanian border. Shimoni is Swahili for "place of the cave" – a romantic enough name but one which also encompasses a dreadful chapter in the tiny settlement's past.

Shimoni's cave – actually a series of caverns, some of which are still unexplored – served as a rudimentary pen for African slaves shipped out by Arab traders combing the African coast for human cargo. The chains that held them to the cave's dank walls can still be seen.

The foundations of the jetty from which the slaves embarked across the Indian Ocean support a makeshift pier at which patrol vessels of Kenya's tiny navy also tie up. Our dhow bobbed at anchor 100 yards out, and a jolly boat took our jolly party out.

Dolphins played around the dhow as we nosed through the islands that ring the maritime park. Captain Hassan threw anchor within sight of the Tanzanian coast, and the organizer of the trip, Jatim Patel, helped us into snorkeling gear and sent us over the side with directions on where to find the most fish.

The Kisite marine park is an underwater world wonder – a magic realm of iridescent coral and swaying shoals of tropical fish. Yellow and black parrot fish, powder-blue surgeon fish, vividly painted butterfly fish and an ugly breed called convict fish because of their black and white stripes – the two meters of crystal clear water between the calm surface of the sea and the coral reef below teemed with life.

On the way home the wind picked up and Hassan and his crew unfurled the triangular Arab sail and let a leeward breeze waft us to Wasini island, where Pilli Pipa Dhow Safari's Harm Lutjeboer and his attractive Kenyan wife Selena had prepared a buffet of "Zanzibar Sultan's soup", Swahili rice and chapatis, chunky mangrove crab, fish marinated in local spices, and salad dressed with tamarind cream. We ate beneath the shade of a thatch roof 30 feet high, cooled by zephyrs from the nearby ocean.

An al fresco lounge beckoned with deep, softly-cushioned armchairs and sofas. Jatim woke us from post-prandial slumber and helped us back through the shallows to the jolly boat, thence to the dhow and on, with a keening wind behind us, to Shimoni.

"You and Selena live here?? I asked Dutchman Harm as we left the shade of his idyllic retreat. He just smiled and gave a slight shrug. That's life.


Photo courtesy Pinewood Village Beach Resort
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