(Posted 16th November 2022)
When embarking on a VIP journey, one must become a Very Important Person from the
very beginning. Which means from the airport, where one is ushered into a special lounge,
away from the riff-raff, and with ample beverages and edibles which one can quaff. Free of
charge of course… yass.
And www.FlySafarlink.com airlines, conscious of their target clientele’s needs, did just that. The clean
chrome and hyper primary coloured lounge are as if just unveiled from the cellophane, with
a clear view of the airplane runway. Accessible with an extra kshs4,000 to your kshs14,000
return ticket to Malindi, with free food and drinks that include a fully stocked bar on one
side and a dedicated bathroom in the other, one could not ask more a more promising start
for less than $200.
(The Safarilink Executive Lounge at their Wilson Airport building)
Check out the www.FlySafarilink.com special via #youdeserveaholiday for 20% off flights
This time the FOMO was embarking on a Coast Special of a different kind. We are profiling a
different definition of luxury. Travelling the way travelling used to be in the 1960s and 70s,
when personalised attention to detail and the private hedonism of sensation was the order
of the day. And I must not forget to mention that when you charter one of the #Safarilink
smaller planes, you enjoy the Executive Lounge Services for free.
My destination was Watamu, via the newly baptized Malindi International Airport that
boasts flights straight from Milan Italy. Malindi is seeing a regeneration that is opening up
the previously exclusively Italian resort to more localized tourism. And in Watamu, where
the beaches are so pristine they are blinding, I found the most precious gem I have come
across in a while.
Hob House Beach House is an apartment within a leafy luxury residential complex, in a
stand-alone palm thatched house, with a double and a twin room (and an extra bed for a
child) that opens out directly onto the ocean. You are so close to the ocean you can taste
the salty air on your lips. Shades are a must here, but shoes are not, and I recommend one
gets themselves a cotton dirah for the ladies- a floor-length loose flowing robe with lovely
printed designs and open armlets for fresh air with nothing else, and sukas for the
gentlemen- a simple cotton knee length cloth one ties around the waist and hangs loose.
Anything else will sweat and chafe and interfere with your ultimate pursuit of perfect
lounging.
Furnished with white linen and Feng-shui-ed with complimentary sea colours and the
prerequisite splash of red, the potted palm fronds and white washed stick shading welcome
in the breeze while concealing your meditative repose. Walking in a dream sleep, you feel
lucid, and lulled by the ebb and flow of the nearby tide, you decide to explore the ocean.
The tide in the afternoon slowly pulls back to the second reef and depending on the time,
one can either swim or walk to the row of 7 little islands opposite the beach. Hob House
Beach house faced the Love Island, a cute little outcropping with a semi-circle of sand, and
fresh oysters that one can dig out of the rocks with another rock like a cave-man. Plucked
out, washed out in sea water and swallowed immediately before one could think, the taste
was so sensational one would venture to call it primordial. I have never tasted anything like
it before. It is as if all those additives of lemon and garlic are just superfluous and
inconsequential. THIS is how oysters are meant to be eaten.
The glorious sunset had the resident milk-coffee tanned Italians on the beach purchasing
lobster directly from the fishermen for their dinner. Thankfully George, my Watamu/Malindi
fixer, had already stocked my kitchen fridge full of king prawns and calamari, as well as
some supplies from the supermarket. Thankfully Hob House already provided the spices in
their fully stocked kitchen, and if I didn’t want to cook, there was Chef Martin on hand to do
so.
Sylvia the housekeeper had decorated my bed so beautifully with heaps of bougainvillaea, I
was loath to remove it so I could get under the covers. So, I stacked them on the dining
table and made a decoration of my own. When I finally sunk under the covers, after a
cooling shower with Aloe soap from Essenza by Agar, a Kenyan company operating in the
arid North, I could swear that this was not a foam mattress. Foam does not embrace you like
a boat filled with cotton wool. Foam does not spring back when you roll from end to end like
a cat. I don’t know what it was, but it was magic.
One night at the Hob House Beach House costs kshs35,000 ($285) per apartment and comes with Chef and
Housekeeper. All amenities are present including Samsung washing machine and fresh water dispenser.
Bookings should be made in advance as it books up 3 months ahead. Sylvia the housekeeper will be on hand for
any daily requirements and is the loveliest most discreet little lady you will ever meet.
To Book at Hob House Beach House:
Manager Sheila: +254 702 076969
George Ocean Breeze restaurant (the fixer):
+254 707 561 016
To watch The FOMO Travel Show Ep 91:
Stay tuned for the last of the Hob House properties: The Fortamu Tower Watamu.
Contact Achola Rosario via coalrosa@gmail.com if you are interested to have your location featured on the F.O.M.O. Travel Show and on www.ATCNews.org
