Summary: Diani Beach is a white-sand beach located on the Indian Ocean coast of Kenya. On this final leg of our Africa trip, we stayed at the Baobab Beach Resort and Spa and enjoyed a little down time before flying back home. This beautiful beach is accessible by a quick flight from Nairobi on a local carrier. During our three days here, we lounged by the pool, walked the beaches, and played games as a family.
Early start. From Nairobi, we flew to Ukunda Airstrip on Jambojet. This tiny airport was just that - an airstrip. We do have to say that both landing and take off was a bit harrowing in light of the fact that this fairly large plane is given what appears to be a too-short airstrip. That being said, they obviously have done this before so our discomfort aside, it seemed to work. Fair warning though, it's a bit wild.
White Sand Beaches. From the airport, the resort transfer service picked us up. After getting settled in, we immediately went out to the beach to check out the famous white-sand beaches. This is why we came. Where else can you see such sparkling white beaches?
A few observations to note if you're considering visiting. The first is that the resort does not own any part of the beach and there are no chairs or other resort equipment on the beach. This means that patrons actually generally didn't use the beach and instead stay on the resort itself which overlooked the beach from above. The second item to note is that once on the beach, the locals fairly aggressively try to sell you items or services. This too made most patrons stay on the resort. That being said, as a family, we're not generally beach-goers so viewing it from above ended up being just fine for us. If you like to lounge on the actual beach, though, this may not be the place for you.
Baobab Beach Resort. The resort grounds are quite lovely. We are not sure how the star-rating system works but we would characterize it as nice but not luxury. Everything was perfectly clean and manicured. The staff was friendly, helpful, and accommodating. Alcohol was included in this all-inclusive resort and the food was adequate but not 5-star.
Games. We used this last leg of our trip to enjoy some good quality family time. We spent the majority of our time playing pool at the resorts two pool areas. In the photos below, the tennis courts were often filled with playing monkeys, adding to the fun.
Reflections on an amazing trip. The downtime in Kenya allowed us to reflect back on a once-in-a-lifetime vacation. We started in Uganda and trekked to see endangered mountain Gorillas; we traveled to Tanzania and viewed the incredible Serengeti; and did so much more. While we have to agree that if we had to do it again, we probably would have skipped the Kenya leg, we do appreciate the purpose of it in the first place. When we go back home, we have to jump back into our lives too quickly. Getting a chance to reflect made us appreciate the experience all the more.
About Duma Explorer Safari Company. This Tanzanian and American-owned company came recommended by a family friend. The American owners, Stacy Readal, happens to live close-by to our house so we were able to meet with her in person ahead of our trip. While convenient for us, we could have done everything by email and phone just the same. We have nothing but great things to say about this awesome company. From door-to-door, they had us covered for everything we needed on our trip. We highly recommend booking with Duma Explorer.