A day in Watamu in February 2024: A Mosaic of Challenges

A typical day in February in the enchanting coastal town of Watamu, Kenya, unfolds, seemingly idyllic, yet beneath the surface lies a complex tapestry of challenges and contradictions.

Watamu is a thriving holiday resort on Kenya's north coast, around 100 km away from Mombasa, and a one-hour flight from Nairobi. During the last 10 years, the once-sleepy coastal village that had only 3000 inhabitants in 2012 has boomed and is now home to around 30,000 inhabitants and becoming more and more popular with backpackers and local tourists alike. Full of life.

As dawn breaks, the sun casts an unforgiving glare. Not that I’m well-rested. My sleep was shattered by the cacophony of local establishments flaunting their disregard for their neighbors, no matter if they are children, the elderly, or the sick who need their sleep. They can do that because nobody will stop them, even though there is no doubt that they are breaking the law. Often, the rule of law is completely ignored. Complaining to the police or other authorities usually does not help. Bar owners say they bring jobs to Watamu, as if loud music and ruthlessness are the only ways to do that.

The air is tainted with the acrid scent of burning plastic, a symptom of the village's woefully inadequate public waste management. In response, everybody has their own waste incinerator at home. Hotels often have quite large incinerators on their compounds. That makes Watamu’s air unhealthy. One can frequently find burning waste hills near the main road that is also used by many newly arriving tourists, making this their first impression of Watamu.

Mostly waste is "managed" by throwing it just somewhere. For instance, near to the entrance of our home... Mostly plastic waste and often water or soft drink bottles. A new trend: diapers.

Here, many streets resemble a battleground of refuse. Some shop owners and even banks seem oblivious to the allure of a pristine storefront. Would it not be good for business? If more would at least take care of the rubbish in front of their doorstep, how different things would be. My wife comes from a country, where it is custom and expected and a matter of pride that every house-owner cleans the street in front of their house every day, if possible, with water, leaving immaculate streets. With just a little effort.

There are loud black birds in the sky. Indian crows. Very well-fed from the refuse of humanity including fishmongers who just threw the fish guts on the street, feeding them and other vermin. In the very center of Watamu. Indian crows are an invasive species that came to Kenya in 1948. These flying rats are slowly taking over Watamu, erasing the local bird population. In their quest to take over the country, they have reached as far as Voi.

Unfortunately, I could not take a shower this morning. No water. Water scarcity became an unfortunate companion to unbridled expansion. Uncontrolled growth of the village was not matched by the growth of the public utilities for water and sanitation, leading to regular water shortages. In addition, water is scarce due to climate change, irrigation needs of agriculture, aggravated by bad planning and coordination, corruption, a rotten distribution system, lack of competition, bad management, inadequate politics, lack of funds, and last but not least, physics. It is just not possible to bring the water to certain places.

Electricity is a problem, too. Watamu is experiencing so many electricity cuts, that I would start missing something if there would be electricity permanently. Today, however, we are lucky. There is KPLC electricity. At least at our place (but not on Short Beach and not in Kanani). Soon, everything will be fantastic anyway. There is talk about building a Nuclear Power Plant not far from Watamu. A bad joke? No.

Going out to buy some bread, I have to be careful while walking down the street. Traffic became as if we were in Nairobi. It seems every youngster, starting from the age of 10, has a motorbike nowadays. Often without having a driving license or insurance tempting fate with each careless maneuver. Probably, they think they are cool, but it is only a self-declared coolness and a threat to the life and health of others, including their passengers.

Watamu has a police station in its center. All the time, motorbikes without number plates, with handmade number plates, without insurance, technically not sound, over-speeding, with too young drivers, pass by the entrance of the police station, violating the rules in front of the police’s very eyes, thus endangering the life of others. Not a problem for them. They know that the police only take action sporadically.

Upon reaching the dusty center of Watamu, I see that at the fish shop, there is a little red car. This car brings fresh fish from Lamu because the fish stock in Watamu has been decimated over the years. Overfishing, destroying mangroves (the cradle for fish), fishing of fish babies, etc. Entering the shop, I have to throw overboard everything that I ever learned about hygiene. Fish lie on the floor, who knows when the deep freezers were last cleaned, if ever? The plastic board on which the fish is cleaned is a deep black, with flies dancing around it. Fish blood or guts are just spilled on the ground. Fish is cleaned in used water. Any public office in charge of hygiene that has at least a little respect for what they are doing would close this place immediately. Of course, it would not happen. Or only after there is an outbreak of a fish-borne disease. Cholera, hepatitis, salmonella, you name it. Some might say, "But we are in a developing country," but I don't agree. The fish is not cheap, I pay a similar price per kg in a very neat and clean fish shop in Nairobi or at Carrefour. It is about maximizing profits and having nothing to fear. Even big hotels get their fish from such shops.

In tourist places, the center of the location is usually the nicest place, but not in Watamu. Here most of it is dusty, littered, and at times smelly. The Beach Road, which should be a vibrant place for eating, shopping, and perambulating, is far from being a tourist haven. Walking is difficult because you have to dodge speeding motorbikes. There are some nice shops and recently there are truly some improvements, but the permanent harassment by touts, some of them obviously stoned, undoubtedly affects the experience. Do shop owners, who pay them, not know that these are bad for their business? Can't they see how stressed some tourists become when followed by them?

Is not known that tourists like it when the place where they are spending their money is neat and clean, quiet, free of smell, safe, beautiful, and hassle-free, with nice shops to spend their money thus making the local economy thrive? Doesn't it make one think that some hotels advise their guests not to leave the hotel compound?

Tourists like fish, but they don't like the smell of fish.

Later in the day, I go to the beach. I am lucky. There had been a beach cleaning recently. No broken flip-flops, oil cans, plastic bags, diapers, used condoms... Also, I am neither mugged nor harassed by beach boys. All my things are still there where I left them before swimming. All in all, a good beach visit!

The coral reefs, once the pride of Watamu, have been scarred at the hands of tourists and anchors. The Kenya Wildlife Service seems to be only present when it is about collecting fees. Climate change has taken its toll, too.

This is, of course, only one side of Watamu and — unfortunately — only a snapshot. I could mention places in Timboni where people burn old tires, just to get to the iron wire inside, polluting the environment with toxic fumes. Or the waste collection point on the main road leading from Watamu to Gede, the road every tourist must use to reach Watamu. Or the drug problem. Or the social problems, some of them leading to many underage pregnancies, sex tourism, and other issues.

Still, Watamu, which some used to call paradise, is a nice place to live at. Wonderful people. Mostly. The best exotic beaches in the world. A dream for kite surfing and other sports, or anglers. Mangrove forests, part of a UNESCO Designated Biosphere Area remind us how the whole coastline used to look. Explore the ruins of Gede, a medieval Swahili coastal settlement and among the most intensely excavated sites in East Africa. Plus, there are some excellent restaurants and hotels.

But this paradise is under threat. Fast population growth, a growing crime rate, absence of the rule of law, environmental deterioration, partly resulting from climate change, partly the result of neglect and greed, hardly functioning public services and more create a real risk that this paradise will be soon lost. Poverty and lack of education (in Kenya, you still have to pay to go to school!) are a root cause of many of the described problems.

What can we do about it? There is a lot of what people can do themselves to improve the situation. Taking care of waste in their immediate surrounding and stopping burning waste is only one thing. Some of the big money-makers in Watamu, e.g. hotels could maybe do more to improve the situation than they are doing now. There are also some extremely rich people here,  and I often wonder what their contribution to the local community is.

Yet, there’s some hope to be had. Grassroots organizations like the Watamu Marine Association and The Local Ocean Trust strive to preserve the natural wonders, while Watamu Against Crime valiantly attempts to police the streets. The Watamu Association tries to address some of the problems mentioned.

Often, I ask myself the following questions: Why not declare Beach Road a pedestrian zone, closed for motorbikes, with strict hours when tuk-tuks, cars, and trucks may enter to load and unload? Why not ban motorbikes and tuk-tuks from parking at the very center of Watamu (but at the same time give them an alternative that is still convenient)? Why not enforce hygiene regulations in fish shops and similar places, helping them to most likely increase their profits? Why not close or fine the handful of bars, nightclubs, and beach clubs that are notorious for terrorizing their neighbors with their noise? This would also set an example. Why not pave parts of the center of Watamu, basically the side of the main roads to get rid of the dust? Why not put waste bins all over Watamu? Why not fine those who burn waste?

Doing this may somewhat improve the situation, but it will not solve all problems. Without a functioning administration, police, public services that are not corrupt, and political leaders who are truly engaged in applying sustainable solutions, things will not really improve. While there are very rich people here, there are also many very poor, with no access to education, healthcare, and jobs. Improving Watamu may help them because sustainable tourism creates jobs...

Let's hope that Watamu will not suffer the same fate as the neighboring town, Malindi. From being once a number one tourist destination on Kenya's coast, even 15 years ago, it is nowadays only a shell of what it has been. While COVID-19 has contributed to this, I believe the main problem was that Malindi faced many of the issues described here and that this contributed to making tourists look for other destinations. Malindi's reputation was ruined, partly by its own making.

My day in Watamu starts to wind down. Like every day, as if somebody switched the light off, the sun disappears and it is dark within minutes. In the twilight, sipping an evening beer on my porch, I reflect on the privilege of witnessing Watamu's paradoxes. Am I, like Statler and Waldorf from the Muppet Show, becoming an old complainer? Maybe, the next tale I spin will explore the brighter facets of Watamu…

Proofreading and language editing done by Ariane L. Smith