Malindi, Michael Kew2

Summary

+ Semi-consistent in summer	- Lots of onshore mush
+ Warm water	- Mombassa sharks
+ Virgin reefs & beachbreaks	- Remote reefs with tidal flats
+ Fascinating wildlife	- Robberies and muggings

Mombasa, Malindi and Manda are all regularly ridden. Mombasa Island makes sense as a base for surf exploration, with waves right on its doorstep, plus easy access to the coastline north, featuring Arab and Portuguese forts, old towns and some of the finest beach hotels in Africa.

When to Go

The NE monsoon blows hard from Dec-March and does produce occasional windswells but good days are rare during the high tourist season. The SW monsoon typically builds a strong high over Mauritius and the SE winds create a regular 6-12ft windswell, mostly from June to September, which diminishes to 3-6ft by the time it reaches the coast. Most of that swell arrives with very strong SE onshores, so rights wrapping around reefs create the only options for side/offshore conditions. Tides are semi-diurnal with diurnal inequality reaching 4m, making the beachbreaks better at high tide.

Surf Spots

Visible from the Southside ferry, the South Channel outside reefs hold long, tapering, but sectiony rights and the SE trades blow cross-shore. It’s a long paddle and shark sightings are frequent. Baobabs is where the local expats surf, over left reefs at the base of the cliffs, that suffer backwash at high tide and get really shallow at low. Nyali Beach provides access to the North Channel outside shallow reef, where the lefts are usually plagued by onshore SE trades, but it’s a much shorter paddle and less sharky than the South Channel. 80km north, Watamu is a protected curve of aquamarine water with coral gardens and atolls, next to below average SE-facing reefs that are usually onshore and best at high tide. Malindi could be the surf capital of Kenya, thanks to a handful of expats promoting surf-tourism to take advantage of some semi-consistent waves. Malindi Reefs pick up any swell going and bend it around some quality righthand coral corners. The furthest of the four outside reefs sits 3km offshore, while it is only 1km from the long jetty to the most popular wave. From there, the large Malindi Beach extends north to a rivermouth, offering surprisingly consistent sandy peaks up to shoulder high, which are bigger at the north end and better at high tide. Driving to the island town of Lamu can be sketchy – ask around to find out if the road is safe. Shela Beach is lined with hotels and a virtually endless stretch of rolling sand dunes. It’s one of the more consistent beachbreaks, bigger at the south end, but beware of currents and wildlife near the rivermouth. Because of its south-facing aspect, Shela is often onshore. Manda lsland has wonderful beaches and even elephants have been known to swim across from the mainland to hang out. Manda Lefts can be long with racy sections over the live coral and it picks up and handles the most swell in Kenya, but is badly affected by the SE onshores. Kiwayu has some good set-ups with reefs and a decent beach, although outside reefs may filter the swell.

Statistics

J

F

M

A

M

J

J

A

S

O

N

D

dominant swell

NE -NE

NE -SE

NE -SE

NE -SE

NE -SE

NE -NE

swell size (ft)

1

1-2

3-4

4

3

1

consistency (%)

10

20

60

70

50

10

dominant wind

NE -E

E -SE

SE -S

SE -S

SE -S

NE -E

average force

F4

F3

F4

F4

F3-F4

F3-F4

consistency (%)

88

55

83

89

82

63

water temp (C)

26

28

27

25

26

27

wetsuit

boardshorts

boardshorts

boardshorts

boardshorts

boardshorts

boardshorts

Travel Information

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