Diani Beach
Ten miles of white sand and a lagoon protected by a reef, south of Mombasa.
Duration
3 hrs – 6 hrs
Best time
At high tide
Open
Every day
Entry price
Free
Diani is seventeen kilometres of white coral sand, protected by a fringing reef a few hundred metres offshore. That reef breaks the Indian Ocean swell and creates a calm lagoon, but it imposes its rule: at low tide the water pulls back and exposes the reef flat.
Angolan colobus, black and white long-tailed monkeys, live in the coastal forest behind the beach and cross the road on rope bridges installed for them — a scheme that has sharply cut the species' road deaths.
Getting there
Thirty kilometres south of Mombasa, via the Likoni ferry. One to one and a half hours depending on the ferry queue.
What to bring
- Reef shoes
- Swimsuit
- Board
Rules on site
Swimming depends on the tide: at low water the lagoon empties and the reef flat is exposed. Sea urchins are plentiful on the flat — water shoes, and never walk on the coral.
