Raja Clavata Posted January 9, 2011 Report Share Posted January 9, 2011 (edited) I posted a few pics and a brief report of 2009 trip which was generally well received, so here's one from last month. Last time we flew in, fished, and flew straight back out again; we were determined to see more of Kenya this time especially as it was Longshanks first, and potentially only trip. So Longshanks, Pants and I departed LHR late on 3rd December, destination Nairobi with Baggy due to join us in a few days. Our hotel in Nairobi - I love Nairobi and this hotel (The Sarova Stanley) in particular. This is not a camera trick, the guy in the yellow jacket (Masai Tribe) is nearly 7ft tall! Only one night in Nairobi, Pants and I had a walk round the local area of the city whilst Longshanks caught up on beauty sleep. That night we went to Fogo Gaucho's in Westlands for an "eat as much meat as you can" feast. This was a last minute decision as we were previously lined up for Carnivores; what a great shout that was! Superb food at an almost embbarassingly cheap price. We took in a bit of the Nairobi nightlife club scene afterwards in a place called "The Black Diamond" - it made the Friday / Saturday night meat markets of Essex seem suddenly very respectable. We enjoyed it but were pleased to get out unscathed and unaccompanied (not the kind of place to go if you don't know how to behave!) Next day we flew to Mombasa and visited one of the key landmarks on our way to the Villa - Fort Jesus - the plaque explains it's history. The villa was to be "home" for the next two nights, and what a home it is! This is a picture from the sunbathing area by the pool overlooking in the inland side of Kilifi Creek. The cook who works at the villa cooked us a nice chicken curry on the first night. (Cook, who is available for breakfast, lunch and dinner is included in the price of £85 per night for 3 double rooms - along with a cleaner, two gardners and fours askari's [security guards]). Looking out in the same direction, this time from the lounge. On the first morning there we had a visit from a large (20+) group of these. We decided to take a walk into Kilifi town early afternoon. This was the sight looking across the "road" from the entrance to our villa - fortunately the villa sat a good hundred metres or so back from the road. Pants is not a great "walker", so he jumped on the first bicycle taxi we came across and disappeared into town leaving Longshanks and I behind. After 30 minutes or so we saw the bicycle taxi riding towards us in the opposite direction, the poor guy thoroughly exhausted by then, and he told us the pub he had dropped Pants at. As it turned out they had managed, on the way to the pub, to crash into a European couple who hadn't quite got the gig with the traffic "situation" in Kenya - apparently they just apologised and kept going. As Longshanks and I entered the pub, Pants paid for beers for a couple of locals - as it turned out one of them had just travelled up from Mombasa to pay the bail to get the other one released from jail after a drunken rampage. This is normal for Pants - he leaves a trail of destruction / fall-out whenever he goes! Anyway, after sourcing a crate of "Tusker Malt" from a local armoury (sorry, off-licence) and paying a memorable visit to a vegetable market (entailing Pants winding the vendors up no end!) we made our way back to the villa to view the prawns and snapper we'd pre-ordered with cook. Early evening we made our way down the private path to the creek beach to take a "sundowner" dhow (boat) trip. The creek is alive with wild-life. On the return leg Pants proclaimed that he'd lost his money belt which had his passport, cash, credit cards and Baggy's money in it! I assured him he'd 'probably left it in his room' but it made for an uneasy 45 minutes or so nonetheless! (turned out the the belt was in his room). So to the evening - what followed was a sumptuous feast which filled our stomach's, well as least Pants and mine as Longshanks swore blind the prawns were off! Pants and I were both fine the next day. Next morning was our last at the villa and we were picked up at 10:00 for our trip down to Watamu (Turtle Bay Beach Club) which would be our base for fishing (the real reason we were in Kenya) and our rendezvous point with Baggy - the fourth member of our party and guy affectionately known by the hotel staff as "Uncle". Straight into it the next day and with Longshanks as the big game fishing virgin he would get first dibs at the first fish (whatever it was), first lump of a fish (again whatever it was to be) and also the first bill-fish - OK, applicants for next year please form an orderly queue. This wasn't his first fish but first day's fishing saw one happy Longshanks chappy (our first and biggest Wahoo of the trip). We had several small Yellow-fin Tuna - this was the biggest one. Pants with a nice Wahoo. The weigh in back at Hemingways - one minute the other fish we caught were in the background, the next nowhere to be seen - along with the beach boys. The fruits of our endeavours, served up in the hotel for us that night. Longshanks with a nice Giant Trevally on the second day. Me with a Wahoo which was supposed to be dead, by that point, but clearly wasn't as it was thrashing around like a demon. Diblo (one of the crew members) after gaffing a nice Dorado for us - these are our prize fish for the table - probably best tasting fish in most of our opinions. At last, what we were really there for - Sailfish!</font></p> Diblo wrestled this aboard by the beak, we took a few pictures quickly, tagged it and it was then promptly returned from whence it had come. I think it's fair to say Longshanks was happy. Pants with our biggest Giant Trevally of the trip. The guy on the left is Peter - the skipper. Baggy with another Dorado, and dinner for the third night. The sun settles on another day in paradise. On the fourth day we went right out to the banks in search of more bill fish as the Sails weren't showing in sufficient numberscloser in. This also presented the chance of a striped Marlin but we knew before-hand it was a bit all or nothing. In the end it turned out being nothingdespite Sails or Marlin hitting our baits on four or five occasions without a proper hook-up. Baggy with a nice Giant Trevally. This is the final team snap on the way back in on the last day. We flew home on the 13th December. Still no photographic evidence of a Sail for me, as the pictures didn't come out with the one I had last year and Longshanks' one was the only one to grace our presence this time around, so more than sufficient an excuse to get back out there again soon. There is talk of a "splash and dash" trip in Feb this year but it's probably 50/50 at best presently. As always our thanks and gratitude go to the crew of "Vuma" - Peter and Diblo - along with the boat owners, Frank Clarke and Alan Young. Until next time Edited January 9, 2011 by Raja Clavata Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bagsy Posted January 9, 2011 Report Share Posted January 9, 2011 Blimey, fantastic write up and pictures Raja, well done to you all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lampwick Posted January 9, 2011 Report Share Posted January 9, 2011 Great write up, it looks like you had a great time. I'm hoping for a similar trip for my 50th which is a few years away yet but I'm starting to to plan and save for it now! That GT looks nice! Cheers Shippy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berties Posted January 9, 2011 Report Share Posted January 9, 2011 What a great write up,brilliant pictures and the fish wow :yes:you should do the sales brochure for the location Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raja Clavata Posted January 9, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2011 Cheers guys. It was Longshanks' treat to mark his half century All aspects were great but as always it's the company that makes these kind of trips. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davecooper1 Posted January 9, 2011 Report Share Posted January 9, 2011 Fantastic write up and good pictures, sounds like you lads had a good crack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jollysp2 Posted January 9, 2011 Report Share Posted January 9, 2011 My parteners grandad lives 20 mins away from mombasa i think I need to have a trip out and see him Good write up and pictures Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fatcatsplat Posted January 9, 2011 Report Share Posted January 9, 2011 Nicely written Mike - Very good read Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docholiday Posted January 9, 2011 Report Share Posted January 9, 2011 well done the team, sounds a bit more exotic than a day cod fishing of the needles !!! doc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MM Posted January 10, 2011 Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 :good: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mungler Posted January 10, 2011 Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 Nice darts. Can you shoot the local monkeys (ref. your 5th photo ).... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Elvis Posted January 10, 2011 Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 Nice one dudes...im dead jealous! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charliebrown Posted January 10, 2011 Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 Very nice indeed, the jealousy is definatly kicking in! Youve obviously done this a few times so do you book as a package or book seperatly? We were planning this years trip, couldnt decide between Guinea Bissu (seems incredibly cheap for amazing fishing) or Thailand (I fancy a Barramundi while a mates got designs on an Arapaima, we've found a lake with both), so I spoke to a well travelled angler I know who told me on his last trip to Guinea he was mugged twice before even leaving the airport, and again on the journey to the lodge! So Thailand it is then! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leeds chimp Posted January 10, 2011 Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 very good write up and not jelouse at all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raja Clavata Posted January 10, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 Nice darts. Can you shoot the local monkeys (ref. your 5th photo ).... Apparently not, besides these are apparently good monkeys, I am going to look into bird shooting for a subsequent trip though Very nice indeed, the jealousy is definatly kicking in! Youve obviously done this a few times so do you book as a package or book seperatly? We were planning this years trip, couldnt decide between Guinea Bissu (seems incredibly cheap for amazing fishing) or Thailand (I fancy a Barramundi while a mates got designs on an Arapaima, we've found a lake with both), so I spoke to a well travelled angler I know who told me on his last trip to Guinea he was mugged twice before even leaving the airport, and again on the journey to the lodge! So Thailand it is then! We talked about Guinea Bissau a few years back and it's a place we might do in the future. If you change your mind and consider Kenya then I can help you put an affordable package together. We book separately and Baggy has been going there since I was in short trousers so we've collectively built up a fair number of contacts and know how to get the best deals. I guess packages are for somewhere you've not been before and have no contacts for - unless you prefer just paying the dosh and letting someone else worry about all the logistics etc. To be honest this last trip did take a fair bit of planning but I got a kick out of doing it and it ensured we were totally in control of pretty much everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charliebrown Posted January 10, 2011 Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 Apparently not, besides these are apparently good monkeys, I am going to look into bird shooting for a subsequent trip though We talked about Guinea Bissau a few years back and it's a place we might do in the future. If you change your mind and consider Kenya then I can help you put an affordable package together. We book separately and Baggy has been going there since I was in short trousers so we've collectively built up a fair number of contacts and know how to get the best deals. I guess packages are for somewhere you've not been before and have no contacts for - unless you prefer just paying the dosh and letting someone else worry about all the logistics etc. To be honest this last trip did take a fair bit of planning but I got a kick out of doing it and it ensured we were totally in control of pretty much everything. Thanks for the offer of assistance, I might take you up on it at some point! At the moment Ive not done many specificaly fishing trips abroad, so its always been easier to just pay the money and let someone else deal with any problems but I would prefer the freedom that doing it yourself gives. I am told that while the area you fish in Guinea Bissau is safe, its the traveling part that used to carry risks. Apparently the easiest way to get to the fishing was to fly to a neighbouring country then travel to the destination (which was, from memory, a group of islands off the coast). A new airport has opened or a direct flight or somthing which now makes it a lot easier and safer to reach the area. Im afraid I cant remember the specifics as by that point I had already decided against it, but despite the issues he rated it as being some of the best fishing hes had. Tight lines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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