People definitely go to Kenya for the safari, but after Masai Mara, it is both pleasant and essential to spend a few days or even a week on the coast. Many choose Tanzania for their post-safari beach holiday, but we decided to head to the Kenyan coast of the Indian Ocean.
Entry to Kenya and Vaccinations
For travel to Kenya or Tanzania from Russia or Europe, vaccinations are not strictly required. However, traveling between Kenya and Tanzania requires a Yellow Fever vaccination — without it, you won’t be allowed to board the plane. Since there haven’t been yellow fever outbreaks in these regions for over 10 years, we decided against the vaccination, which meant we couldn’t travel between the two countries.
How to Get to Diani Beach
There are three ways to get from Nairobi to Diani Beach:
- By Plane. Domestic flights in Kenya are well-developed, and you can fly to Diani Beach from almost any city, including Masai Mara. This is the fastest way.
- By Train. There is a train service from Nairobi to Mombasa (the Madaraka Express). For me, this is the best way to reach Diani Beach. The trains run strictly on schedule, delays are rare, and tickets are even cheaper than the bus. The carriages are clean, with toilets, power outlets, comfortable seats, and plenty of legroom.
Cons: Tickets sell out quickly, so you should buy them in advance, especially if your trip falls on a weekend or public holiday.
The trains are clean with plenty of legroom and power outlets. Drinks and snacks are sold periodically by vendors accompanied by armed guards. - By Bus. The fare is only slightly higher than an economy class train ticket. However, buses are often late due to heavy traffic on the Nairobi–Mombasa highway, and traffic jams are common near Mombasa. A matatu costs around KES 1500, while we paid KES 2400 per person for more comfortable bus seats.
Cons: The road felt quite dangerous. It’s only one lane in each direction with many slow-moving trucks, and minivans or cars try to overtake them at any cost. We saw several overturned trucks and one head-on collision during our trip.
The buses aren’t the newest, but there is a lot of legroom.
Both the train and bus arrive in Mombasa. From there, it’s about 30 km to Diani Beach. You can take public transport, but we opted for a tuk-tuk via Uber for 1800 KES.
Beach Boys in Diani Beach
Diani Beach has a mixed reputation due to the beach boys, who many find intrusive. This is partly true — they make a living from tourists by offering tours, souvenirs, and various services. However, our experience was quite pleasant.
We befriended the beach boys on our stretch of the beach, and they even helped us out a couple of times — rescuing clothes we left on the shore before the tide swept them away. You can buy tours from them significantly cheaper than at hotels or travel agencies, as long as you don’t forget to haggle. Once they realized we weren’t going to buy anything else, they simply started greeting us and exchanging a few friendly words every day.
Beach boys are part of the local flavor. If you treat them calmly and without irritation, you can avoid discomfort and even have positive social interactions.
Hotels in Diani Beach
Diani Beach is Kenya’s most famous resort, so there are hotels for every taste and budget. During our week, we stayed in three different places located in different parts of the coast.
Leomilo Holidays
This was our favorite option! It’s not just a hotel, but massive apartments where you feel right at home. For $60 a night, we got a huge flat with two cozy bedrooms, two bathrooms, a spacious kitchen, and three balconies. It’s not on the first line, but the beach is just a 10-minute stroll away, which wasn’t an issue at all.
The complex has a swimming pool where our child spent most of her time when we weren’t at the sea. She absolutely loves swimming, and it was the perfect spot when the tide was out and the weather was hot.
The beach was about 900 meters from our apartments. We checked the tide charts and went swimming only during high tide. The water was quite clean and clear, much cleaner than in the northern part of Diani, though the beach, like everywhere else in Diani, had some seaweed.
Everything is nearby: several great restaurants serving local, European, and Japanese cuisine (sushi, pizza, steaks, shakes). There’s also a large grocery store. If you need more, the massive Carrefour Market and central Diani are just 2.5 km away — about 25 minutes on foot.
Flamboyant Diani
Diani Beach might seem like a small village where the sea should be the same everywhere. But in reality, just a hundred meters to the side, and the ocean changes completely!
I enjoyed swimming near the Flamboyant Diani hotel the most. Unfortunately, they didn’t have free rooms for our dates, but they offer an excellent day pass service. You pay a deposit of KES 1000 per person and can spend the whole day enjoying the pool with a sea view and using sun loungers by the pool or on the beach. Your belongings are safe, and there is a designated person to keep the monkeys away from your stuff. However, despite the guards, those monkeys remain very clever and quick! Sometimes they manage to snatch food or belongings faster than the guard can notice.
Additionally, you can use your deposit to buy food and drinks at the hotel bar. Prices are quite reasonable, similar to any other cafe, and some dishes are even slightly cheaper.
As for the beach, it’s generally the same as other parts of Diani, but there’s more life here! You’re more likely to see fish in the water, and I even saw a moray eel just a few meters from the shore. While it’s great for real snorkeling, I must admit I swam back to shore with the speed of an Olympian!
You can also rent a clear plastic boat here to explore marine life in much more safety. This way, you can enjoy the beauty of the underwater world without worrying about encounters with more sinister sea creatures.
Bora Bora Wildlife Park
On the grounds of the sanctuary where we went for dinner with giraffes (more on that below), there are very comfortable tents where you can stay. The sea is about 500 meters or a 10-minute walk away. It must be quite unusual to wake up with a giraffe looking through your window or to swim in a pool while zebras graze and warthogs run nearby.
Cafes and Restaurants in Diani Beach
Diani is Kenya’s most famous resort, so it has some excellent cafes and restaurants. There aren’t many, but the ones available deserve the highest praise.
Kokkos Cafe And Bistro
Located near our apartments, specifically here.
I’m not a huge fan of burgers and fries, but they make probably the best burgers in the world here! I was completely blown away by the combination of meat and blue cheese — it was a flavor explosion! The fries are served with an incredible sauce that was so good I wanted to take some home. The taste is simply fantastic!
Moreover, the atmosphere is incredible. There are always many stylish visitors — both foreigners and local guys and girls. It’s not just a restaurant; it’s a place where you want to spend time.
Shashin-ka
This is a Japanese restaurant located near Kokkos. The sushi is insanely delicious. However, there’s a catch — you need to book your visit in advance. The system works like this:
- You arrive 2 hours before your planned mealtime
- You place your order
- You return 2 hours later, and everything is already served for you
Besides our main order, they brought several “compliments” — a vegetable salad, miso soup, and fruit.
The photo shows all the sushi we ordered, plus beer and a shake. This dinner cost 5200 KES.
By the way, they have WhatsApp, so you can pre-order by phone at +254720747803.
Ali Barbour’s Cave Restaurant
Address: Ali Barbour’s Cave Restaurant
The most unusual restaurant in Kenya. Its unique feature is that it’s located inside a natural cave. The atmosphere is magical — the cave ceiling is open, and when the sun sets, you can enjoy a stunning view of the sky while hearing the distant sounds of the ocean. Beautiful tableware and service.
You must book several days in advance because it’s always fully booked.
Prices are above average, but considering it’s a high-end restaurant experience, it doesn’t seem that expensive. We didn’t manage to get in because everything was booked for days ahead.
You can view the menu and book a table on the official website: alibarbours.com
Tours and Attractions in Diani
Diani offers many different tours, so if you get bored, there’s always something to do. We came here after our safari, so we just wanted to be lazy and swim, but we still picked a couple of “must-visit” spots. Some places can be visited independently, but I recommend booking sea tours through “your” beach boys — it’s cheaper, and they appreciate the business (it’s also important to have someone watch your things while you swim).
Here is a list of tours offered in Diani:
Of course, I highly recommend going for the dinner with giraffes.
Bora-Bora and Dinner with Giraffes
Address: Bora Bora Wildlife Park
In Diani, there is a somewhat controversial place called Bora-Bora. Just a 20-minute tuk-tuk ride from central Diani, you’ll find this small park or sanctuary. You can stay here in large, comfortable tents where animals roam right past you, but the main highlight is coming here for dinner with giraffes.
Zebras, warthogs, giraffes, and ostriches roam freely throughout the park. Each group of visitors is assigned an individual guide who stays with you until you leave. They give very detailed information about the animals, but at the end of the tour, they ask for tips with equal persistence. It’s a bit of an awkward and unpleasant moment.
There are also performers dressed as Maasai working at Bora-Bora. They aren’t necessarily real Maasai; they are just performers who come from all over Kenya for work. Unlike the wonderful Maasai performance we saw at our camp in Masai Mara, here they tell you directly that they will only jump for tips. Keep in mind we had already paid $100 each for entry. This also left a rather unpleasant aftertaste.
The guides claim that only animals that were in trouble and could no longer survive in the wild are brought here from the bush. On one hand, it’s an incredible feeling to hug a zebra or pet a warthog (which are so shy in the wild that we couldn’t even photograph them, but here you can actually pet them) or when a giraffe leans down so low to take food from your hand. But then you happen to turn your head and see staff throwing stones at the giraffes or hitting them with sticks to keep them from wandering too far from the tourists.
And here is the main goal of our visit to Bora-Bora — dinner with giraffes. Don’t expect much from the food, even though they ask for your preferences when you book. We were served just some fries and chicken skin; they ran out of coffee and tea, so we were given water and cola. However, they brought plenty of leaves and sticks for the giraffes, so we spent an hour trying to feed them. Why “trying”? Because other tourists had dinner before us, so the giraffes were already quite full.
Sea Tour
We went on a sea excursion to Robinson Island. It takes place during low tide, as the island is exposed then and submerged during high tide. Hundreds of fish live here. They are definitely used to people and eat bread right from your hands. You can also find hundreds of beautiful red starfish. The water is an incredibly clear turquoise, just like in a picture. I enjoyed the boat trip so much that we even thought about going back the next day.
We bought tickets for the tour from local beach boys for $15 per person.
Hotel with Bush Babies
A very unusual hotel where you sleep in a hut in the forest among the trees, for the price of a huge apartment. We didn’t really like it here. It was cold at night, there were mosquitoes, and there were large gaps in the walls and ceiling. I was so happy when morning came because we only booked one night.
Address: Stilts Tree Houses
However, every day at 7:00 PM, bush babies come to the hotel. These are tiny primates, much smaller than macaques and very shy. The hotel owners feed them daily at 7 PM. Anyone can come and see them. There is no entry fee; it’s just expected that visitors will buy a drink.
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