Kenya. Famous for it's prestine beauty, beautiful beaches and world class safaris. But completely underrated as a kiteboarding destination.
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| Camel downwinders can be arranged at Che Shale | |
Alex, myself, Juanita, Andrew Johns from Xelerator, his girlfriend Jessica and Tasch headed to Kenya to escape the South African winter. We arrived in Mombasa and spent the first two days at the Pinewood Village resort situated on Diani Beach. We would have liked to spend more time at Diani beach as the conditions here were very good for kiteboarding with consistent winds, white sandy beaches and aqua blue water.
Diani beach offers the whitest sand that you have ever seen coupled with turqoise water and cross shore winds.
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| Diani beach offers white sand and turquoise water | |
After two days Justin Aniere took us to his resort situated 125 km's north of Mombasa in Malindi. Che Shale is only accesable by 4x4, making the whole experience unique and private. Che Shale resort consists of 6 thatched bungalows, a kite school and a restaurant all built Robinson Crusoe style. The experience at Che Shale is truly unique as it is uncommercial and doesn't feel like a resort at all.
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| Justin Aniere from Che Shale | |
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| The first Crossbow in Kenya | |
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| Nova vs. Crossbow - Che Shale bay | |
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| Relax, Robinson Crusoe style | |
Che Shale resort is situated on a bay which offers kite able conditions in all wind directions. The whole area around Malindi offers swell on the reef during the south easterly Kusi trade winds that is between June and the end of September.
On one day we did a 15km down winder in the Malindi Marine park. It costs about 3500 Kenyan Shillings per person (R350) which includes a glass bottom boat that will drop you 15km's upwind and follow you on the downwinder. On our down winder we rode millions of waves on the reef and watched big fish swim underneath us in the clear tropical water.
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| Packing up after a downwinder at the Malindi Marine Park | |
The reef in kenya stretches along the whole Kenyan coast and runs parallel to the shore about 1km out to sea. The Malindi area is renowned for bigger waves than in the south during the Kusi trade winds and there is even a world renowned surf spot called HQ located 3 km out to sea. We never got to ride that break but hope to do so when we return next year.
During the Kusi trade winds the wind blows between 17 and 27 knots. The average wind speed for the Kusi is 20 knots and we were on a 12 every single day except for our first and last day of our 14-day stay. The Kusi wind blew day and night non stop for two weeks, and we would have been able to kite at 3 in the afternoon or 2am in the morning on the same kite size as the wind always blew consistently.
During the months of November to April the north easterly Kaskazi trade winds blows. Although the winds during this time blows lighter, the locals report that you can still kite pretty much every day on either a 14 or a 16.
The average minimum air temperature never drops below 22 degrees celcius and even during the winter time between June and Spetember you can expect 27 to 33 degrees on a daily basis.
Water temperature during the Kusi season ranges between 21 and 24 degrees and during the Kaskazi season it ranges between 27 and 30 degrees.
Kenya is a great kiteboarding destination and we'll be back to kite some more unexplored spots in Kenya.
A special thanks to Grant Ross from Cabrinha Kiteboarding, Bruce and Rob Chrystal from Takoon kiteboarding, Olaf Marting from North Kiteboarding and Andrew Johns from Xelerator kiteboarding for sponsoring all the kiteboarding equipment on this trip.
We would also like to thank Justin Aniere and his crew from Che Shale for hosting us at his resort.
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| Kenyan sunset | |
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| Secret spot only reachable by yacht | |
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| Fabio Balini is a regular visitor to Kenya and Cape Town | |
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| Local kids checking out the Xelerator boards | |
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Natascha Petersmann sponsored by Neil Pryde, RRD,
Cabrinha, Raisins and Dermalogica | |
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| The beginning of a long downwinder... | |