Harry Miller "How Deep is the Ocean" Travelogue

Mombasa seemed like a lush green paradise after 8 days at sea and the brief stopover in Djibouti. It even seemed easier to breathe. Mombasa was much more in alignment with whatever preconceived notions I had lurking in my consciousness about what Africa would be like. Although it's startling to see people with sub-machine guns patrolling the streets, for some reason Mombasa did not seem quite as threatening as some of the other locations I have visited where armed forces are so visible.

The gateway entrance to Mombasa - made from the tusks of the largest elephants ever found....NOT!

What was scheduled as a one day visit turned into two as our expected food shipment did not arrive. On the pier, dozens of Masai tribespeople were selling various wood carvings and souvenirs. Some of their artwork and crafts were very high quality. One trick they used, if you showed even the least bit of interest in a certain item, was to ask you if you would like to trade your pen for the object of your interest. They claim to have a pen shortage in Kenya!

What seemed like a good deal would quickly turn into a dispute with a lot of arguing. I guess they felt that once they had possession of your pen they had a solid deal. Only thing was, they didn't tell you that you still had to pay full price for the item in question! I almost fell for this myself, and later I learned that several other people had the same scam attempted on them.

The Masai are famous for a special kind of dance-jumping, which I think is a kind of ritual. However, I didn't get to see it - maybe next time! One very tall Masai man that I bought some beadwork from consented to having his picture taken with me, and in the process held my hand. In this part of Africa, men often hold hands with other men as a sign of friendship.

I wanna hold your hand

I took a taxi into town, passing through a large "gateway" made of huge elephant tusks (see my photo pages). It was extremely hot in Mombasa. I walked around a little bit, did my e-mail business, and then took a tour of the old city. My taxi driver was a nice guy, but didn't have much to offer in the way of factual knowledge. We watched an old ship having it's cargo unloaded, and it could have been a scene from another era altogether. There was virtually no modern equipment in use.

Almost like a scene from another era

Then we had a drive by the sea and saw the wealthier section of town. There are little "rest stops" with people selling fresh coconut milk for drinking, so we did that and relaxed by the shore for a few minutes. My guide insisted on showing me the local ferry as well, so we drove over to the landing and watched large crowds of people being herded on and off the ferry. I don't know what the guide thought was so appealing about this!

Imelda Marcos was here

That night after work, I decided to stay on the ship because there were many warnings about how dangerous it was to go out at night. This is one place I had to assume the warnings were true, and concluded it was better not to risk it.

The next afternoon, I befriended a local guy named Job who was on his way home from work in an office, and he showed me the way to the Shree Narayana Temple. There are many people of Indian/Hindu descent living in Mombasa. I spent some time in the temple, then we went out to eat. My new friend told me about how devastating AIDS has been in his country. He said many people he knew were becoming sick and dying, and that they were considered outcasts by society at large simply for having the disease.

Sidebar: one common theme that kept recurring for me almost everywhere I travelled, especially in third world countries, is GRATITUDE for my life. I really had no inkling, growing up in St. Louis in a materially abundant environment, how difficult most people's lives are. We live in somewhat of a vacuum in the USA, most of us not realizing just how hard life is for probably 90% of the world's people.

It IS true that the vast majority of the world's population lives in poverty, not knowing if they will have enough food to eat or water to drink on any given day. While I do believe that at an essential level, each person creates his or her own reality, I also believe that if all of your physical needs are always met, or if you never have any exposure to suffering, it is very easy to forget about those who are less fortunate. I hope I never forget how lucky I am.

ZANZIBAR, TANZANIA (visited 12/99; written circa 9/00)

See you in Zanzibar

Zanzibar is a tropical island off the coast of mainland Tanzania, I think. I was only able to spend about 2 hours ashore, and it went by pretty quickly. There is an old section of town that is reminiscent of some places in Europe with winding narrow cobblestone streets. Also, I was surprised to learn that Islam is the dominant religion both here and in Kenya.

A man who seemed to be pretty nice offered to be my tour guide, but quickly I realized that he had some kind of leg injury and was unable to walk even at a medium tempo. I assume they don't have disability benefits in Tanzania, and this guy was desperate to make a few dollars. So I gave him a donation and ventured off on my own.

Later I bought a very simply constructed but nice sounding kalimba (thumb piano) for $3. We used this kalimba for a segment of the Griftheater production called "Dilapidating" for the Philadelphia Fringe Festival in September 2000. I also bought an imitation egg made out of a special green rock that is found in this part of the world (is it called tanzanite? - something like that). Due to such limited time onshore I have nothing else to report from Zanzibar!

to the next PhotoJournal page - "MADAGASCAR & COMOROS ISLANDS"
all text and photos Copyright (C) 1999-2000 Harry Miller