We went this early evening to the end of the line, to where the Kongo river meets the sea. It is, of course, the other Kongo river, a rivulet by comparison, but also very historical, as at its mouth is the Kongo Masjid, the first in East Africa.
The estuary was a very appealing spot. By some rather fine looking bungalows there was a path going down to the mangroves which lined it, and between the brown river flowing placidly out to the sea. The point of the estuary was very beautiful, with wide, shallow tidal pools cut across by sand banks along the river where gentle waves lapped up from an intensely blue lagoon fringed by white sand. There were about a dozen people, mostly Kenyans, paddling around, or getting into boats for a sunset trip up the river. Up on the banks were baobab trees, and peeping through them, the Kongo mosque: a modest structure looking out to the sea in a way that reminded me of the sea chapel in Byblos. It had some quite splendid internal windows, arches through the thick coral walls, bringing air and light into the inner rooms.
We walked back along the shore, about 6 kilometres, most of it along a beach but one slightly tricky bit over sharp coral with many puddles. Luckily, a passing man instructed us to stay towards the water side rather than follow our instinct to go inland, and that proved the right choice. It was rather tiring though, that part of the walk, and made our stroll feel much longer than it actually was.
The resorts and restaurants along the way clearly appeared to cater to different groups. There were far fewer white people than near our beach, and there were patches along the way where the clientele were all Asian, presumably Kenyan Asians. Still others seemed to cater to well-to-do Kenyan Africans.
It was getting dark by the time we arrived at our beach, but the moon was high and approaching its full.
A fine day, which started with fish from one of the fishing collectives entertained by colobus monkeys (one armless) and the familiar game they play with people who amble out with a slingshot and amble back in again, and then the monkeys return.