Ngomeni Shipreck
Ngomeni is a small fishing village a few kilometers form Malindi. The town itself had a long history with the Portuguese, and played a significant role in the fall of Mombasa in the 16th century. The Portuguese were favored by the existing infighting between the sultans of Mombasa and Malindi, and when the later repelled […]
Artisanal Fishing Gear in the Kenyan Coast: Basket Trap (Malema)
Artisanal gears are the kind used by fishermen within 12 Nautical miles of Kenya’s shoreline. Basket traps are made using split bamboo frame then interwoven with split bamboo reeds, creating a hexagonal mesh basket. Bait is places in the cone-shaped entrance to attract fish. Pieces of rock are tied on the edges to weigh the […]
Ship Wrecks: MV GLOBE STAR (27th April, 1973)
The Globe Star was a cargo ship that ran aground on April 27, 1973, along Nyali Reef near Mombasa, Kenya, while transporting 10,000 tons of wheat destined for Karachi, Pakistan. Despite extensive salvage efforts, the ship eventually broke apart and was abandoned. Tragically, during a salvage operation in November 1973, five individuals lost their lives […]
Ship Wrecks: Santo Antonio de Tanna (1697)
The Santo Antonio de Tanna was a 17th-century Portuguese frigate that sank very close to Fort Jesus in 1697. Fort Jesus stands as evidence of Portuguese presence in Mombasa designed by the Goa-based Italian architect Giovanni Batista Cairato as his last and perhaps most crowning achievement. It remains more or less as he had designed […]