The famous tusks that commemorate a visit by Queen Elizabeth in 1952. They also symbolise the ivory trade — now banned. Photo/FILE
We had already waited in Nairobi beyond the 6.05pm take-off time when Kenya Airways announced that we would have to wait another 20 minutes.
“Not too long to wait,” I thought. At 6.30pm another announcement was made, that we would take off in an hour. This was not amusing.
Finally, at about 8pm, we departed for Mombasa.
Yes, the joy of visiting this old town that is home to some of East Africa’s historical architecture lifted my spirits.
The flight was smooth, but the welcome at Moi International Airport was discouraging.
As soon as the plane touched down, the airport was engulfed in darkness. A power blackout. It lasted five to six minutes, evidence that there was no quick back up.
This was scary enough, but who knows what would have happened had the power gone off before we landed?
With the help of aircraft lights and luggage movers, we identified and picked up our luggage.
But all was not gloom — the taxi driver gave us lots of free information on the city.
He had many details of the island, setting the mood for a nice casual visit.
We crossed Nyali bridge that links the mainland to the island as we drove from the airport to the hotel.
Sai Rock was the hotel’s name. A male worker dressed in a red shuka, car tyre sandals and holding a rungu in typical Maasai fashion, welcomed us at the entrance.
I was tempted to believe that Sai was a contraction of Maasai. Well, there were other typical Maasai features in the hotel.
I saw two sculptures of a man holding a rungu, synonymous with Maasai men, and of a woman adorned in Maasai beads and breastfeeding a baby in the lobby.
The decor in the hotel is a blend of different cultures, perhaps symbolic of the real experience outside the hotel.
On top of the Maasai sculptures was a glass aquarium with live fish, modern sofa sets and a dhow used by immigrants to reach the coast of Mombasa. Visible from the hotel was the beach.
Later, while strolling on Mombasa’s main street, the ivory tusks the locals call pembe ya ndovu (Kiswahili for elephant tusks) captured my attention.
The tusks were designed to commemorate a visit by Queen Elizabeth in 1952.
They also symbolise the ivory trade — now banned — that Kenya was known for.
The town is on an island separated from the mainland by Tudor Creek and Port Reitz creek.
It has existed for centuries, but what is known of it today can be traced to Portuguese travellers who feather-penned most of their chronicles in the 16th century after the first European explorer, Vasco da Gama, docked in 1498.
Vasco da Gama’s arrival at the coast marked the beginning of colonisation of Mombasa by different outsiders at different times.
Vasco da Gama, who sought an easy route to India, did not establish a good relationship with the native people.
So he sailed on to a friendlier group of natives in Malindi.
But Mombasa’s natural harbour soon attracted foreign attention.
The Turks were the first to build a fort in Mombasa, but conscious of the security of their route back to Portugal, Vasco da Gama’s team allied with the Malindi natives to drive them out.
In 1593, the Portuguese started carving from coral reef rocks a large structure that still stands today.
The structure, Fort Jesus, was raised to guard the harbour’s entrance.
Its walls are one metre thick and 18 metres high, built on land measuring two and a half acres.
It overlooks the old town, whose buildings reflect the architectural works of the earlier settlers — Arabic and Persian.
When the Portuguese arrived in Mombasa, they regarded themselves as the representatives of Christendom, rather than of Portugal, and they sailed under the flag of the Order of Christ.
Jesus was, therefore, an obvious name for the new fort. Francisco de Seixas de Cabriene, 27, was then in charge.
My wandering took me to Fort Jesus on a tuk-tuk.
A guide received me and explained the history of the fort.
At the entrance are Portuguese inscriptions that summarise the gruesome fate that befell the coastal people and slaves from East Africa destined for overseas.
Francisco subjected the people of the Coast to his Majesty the King in Portugal, inflicted numerous punishments on them.
He also had governors and leading citizens executed and ordered all those who did not pay tribute to the king to do so.
One inscription reads: “For these services, he was made a Knight of the Royal Household after he had already, for other services, been given the habit of the Order of Christ.”
With their brutality, however, the Portuguese are the only people who occupied Mombasa but were heartbroken at the time of their departure.
Evidence of their loneliness is drawn on the wall.
They hid these drawings on a wall in one of the passages but they were discovered about a century ago. The drawings tell it all.
One depicts a sad Portuguese man.
Members of the group were bitter when they left Mombasa because they had not accomplished their mission of spreading Christianity among the locals, who had adopted Islam from the Arabs.
Another drawing shows the mode of transport they used to come to Mombasa — dhows flying the Church flag.
In fact, the proposed church remains at foundation level to date.
A drawing of men wielding bows, arrows and swords reveals another fact — that the Portuguese were often outnumbered in battle.
There are drawings of fish — a major source of food — and of fishing.
And there are drawings of chameleons, implying that the area might have been infested with the reptiles then.
Evidence of Arab occupation of the fort is seen in the design of the door frame. There are also inscriptions on the walls and the wooden frames.
Fort Jesus has preserved the same basics it was built with nearly 400 years ago.
For instance, the carronades and the canons that the Portuguese and the British brought in are still positioned in firing mode.
A trip downstairs leads one to a torture chamber — a small dark room without ventilation.
There is also a staircase which leads to the sea through a small opening.
However, when the British colonised Kenya, they blocked it, turning it into a prison.
At the top of the fort is a control tower facing the sea from which officers on guard watched people coming from the sea.
On the other side is the gunpowder room where a Portuguese soldier once killed many Arabs.
The Sultans’ block is separate from the rest.
The items they used — along with a picture of Sayyid Said bin Sultan Al Busaidy that was donated to the fort — remain intact.
In another section, drums, chairs, plates, bowls, cups and other items have been kept for viewing at a fee.
The fort suffered a history of murder, siege, starvation, bombardments and treachery that makes modern day hijacking and thuggery seem like child’s play.
Today, the fort stands in tranquillity, attracting visitors from all walks of life.
The Sultan of Oman, for instance, laid siege to the Portuguese in 1696 for about two and a half years, causing many deaths because of starvation and plague.
The Sultan then took control of the fort. This control lasted 30 years before the Portuguese reoccupied the fort.
But within a year, the Arabs seized it again. The Portuguese left the Coast for good in 1729.
The battle for control of the fort was now between the Arabs of Oman and the Ali Mazruis of Mombasa.
That lasted 51 years before the British captured the fort in 1857, and eventually turned it into a prison.
When Kenya became independent, the government turned the fort into a museum.
