title Long Train (not) Runnin': Tiwi Beach, Mombasa, Kenya - 7th November 2010 intro It's the final leg of the honeymoon and we're taking the overnight sleeper train from Nairobi to Mombasa. The journey is interesting in itself as the train, which last saw its glory days in the 60s or 70s, is fairly lively and busy. Dinner is served by the bell shortly after we depart and is itself a fairly crazy event. After that, people retire to their cabins (two bunk beds per room) and try to get some sleep as the train slowly rumbles through the dark African countryside. The next day after dawn, we see some of the scenery and watch the small children from every tiny village run up to the train to see what's going on or to try and score some sweets or pencils or whatever the passengers are handing out. The train is on time (according to the +/- 1 hour definition of such things) and rocks up in Mombasa 16 hours after it left Nairobi. We then get a lift from one of Will's chums over to Tiwi beach and spend three lovely days doing pretty-much nothing whatsoever, apart from defending our fruit stash from marauding monkeys - unsuccessfully on two occasions. At the beach, fishermen and the Mango Man come up to the cottage to sell fresh produce, and the dudes on the beach are selling souvenirs and providing snorkelling trips, which we do too. Hakuna Matata, indeed. On the way back to Nairobi the train stops at Mazeras, 15 kilometers and barely one hour outside Mombasa, and we're informed of a "derailment up ahead". 15 hours later, the train has not moved, and so an American dude leads us in a splinter group through a nearby village - an experience in itself - down to a random bus driven by some Somali dudes which is heading to Nairobi. Half way, at the town of Voi, there's a five-mile stationary tailback of HGVs, which bothers the driver not one bit. If, whilst overtaking stationary traffic, something comes the other way, this dude simply piles his bus with 25 people on board completely off the wrong side of the road and carries on driving along the dirt until the oncoming traffic has passed. In Voi, we see the remains of burning tyres and the Kenyan police helicopter, and it turns out that the demonstration had included ripping up the railway lines, so our train was probably still where we left it. Even so, total journey time from the beach to the hotel in Nairobi ends up being around 30 hours. When we're finally dropped off the bus, it's in the dodgiest part of Nairobi - River Road - and the place is heaving and crazy. William eventually rescues us, and takes us to the hotel for our final night in Kenya. imgp7702 On the road back to Nairobi from Narok imgp7705 The Cool Base Selections Store, Narok imgp7708 The platform at Nairobi Railway Station imgp7711 Isobel talks to a Belgian girl imgp7713 Tusker beer is duly consumed imgp7716 Dinner time on the sleeper train imgp7717 Nosher and Isobel in the crazy restaurant car imgp7719 Kids run alongside the train imgp7725 Isobel surveys the scenery imgp7727 Breakfast on a train: it looks like we haven't moved imgp7728 Isobel in our sleeper cabin imgp7730 A view of our little train room imgp7736 The ramshackle train rumbles through the countryside imgp7737 The Kenya Railway is using semaphore signals imgp7739 A girl runs alongside the train imgp7740 A small boy desperately runs after the train imgp7741 Maji Ya Chumvi halt/station imgp7742 Another small boy chases the train imgp7744 The train corridor imgp7745 Rumbling through the Kenyan countryside imgp7753 Children wave at the train imgp7754 People wait at Mariakani halt imgp7756 A woman with a bundle on her head imgp7757 Rail-side kiosk imgp7758 Some dude walks along the tracks imgp7759 A signal box at Changamwe imgp7760 A shanty-town just outside Mombasa imgp7761 People are living on landfill outside Mombasa imgp7762 Old railway building in Mombasa imgp7764 The lump of iron that hauled our train imgp7767 Portable ghetto-blasters haven't reached Mombasa imgp7768 A giant Coca-Cola bottle in the street imgp7770 A shop in Likoni sells metal pots imgp7774 Our stunning private beach imgp7776 Resident cat Patchy looks out imgp7778 Patchy Cat peers through a hole in the wall imgp7788 A small boat on the Indian Ocean imgp7792 Breakfast fruit and juice imgp7795 Patchy Cat sprawls out on our bed imgp7796 Prickly Pear cacti imgp7797 Our Tiwi Beach cottage imgp7800 Palm trees on the beach imgp7804 Women pick small shells to make necklaces imgp7806 Bright cloths wave in the sun imgp7808 A thatched beach hut imgp7812 Isobel and a beer at the nearby Twiga resort bar imgp7823 An anti-mosquito coil has left a nice pattern imgp7824 Another breakfast on the verandah imgp7826 Our cottage's lounge imgp7827 The bedroom imgp7828 Isobel gets a pedicure imgp7831 Life on the beach imgp7836 A fresh coconut, straight from the tree dscf2270 Two monkeys have a scrap imgp7838 A monkey perches on a pole imgp7852 One of the resident baby monkeys imgp7854 Another baby monkey plots how to steal our food imgp7860 A monkey flakes out imgp7883 Another view of the beach imgp7884 Nice purple flowers on the beach imgp7885 A final look at the beach imgp7887 Detritus on the beach imgp7891 Our little garden area imgp7892 A wooden construction in Likoni imgp7893 Random shops and shacks, Likoni imgp7894 The Municipal Council of Mombasa Revenue Office imgp7895 A dude with a large stack of eggs on his bike imgp7896 Interesting street life imgp7898 Down by the docks in Mombasa imgp7902 Chicken heads poke up from the back of a van imgp7905 The train awaits for our return trip to Nairobi imgp7906 Isobel heads off to the shop imgp7908 The almost-empty platform imgp7910 Derelict railway tracks imgp7912 Mombasa: altitude 18 metres. imgp7913 Mombasa station imgp7923 Nosher peers out of the train imgp7925 Isobel looks up from the platform imgp7929 Some old rolling stock imgp7933 Adverts on corrugated iron imgp7936 Mazeras, where the train stops imgp7939 The train sits around doing nothing much imgp7942 There's quite a crowd of people milling around imgp7944 We escape through Mazeras village imgp7945 Isobel in the middle of our "splinter group" imgp7946 The view from Nosher's bus seat imgp7948 On the coach imgp7949 Trolleys by the Baghdad Guest House imgp7951 A mosque imgp7956 The Café Ruzanna imgp7958 The "Oasis Hotel" imgp7961 The countryside looks like the Australian outback imgp7962 The queue of traffic outside Voi imgp7963 The crazy bus imgp7965 The bustling town of Voi imgp7966 Another scene from Voi imgp7967 Part of the queue of HGVs imgp7968 Outside Voi, the Kenyan Police helicopter lurks imgp7971 Baobob trees imgp7974 There are one or two signs around imgp7976 A massive tree imgp7977 Crowds somewhere imgp7979 Back on the plane to the UK imgp7982 Sand dunes in the Sudanese desert imgp7985 In Libya, central-pivot irrigation has left its mark imgp7987 Elvis pops up from time-to-time on the SkyTrack system imgp7988 More desert formations imgp7991 A Libyan oilfield.