A plastic chair on white sand with a long table clothed in a leso may not at first sound like a great restaurant experience.
However, fun is not always about gourmet food served in a stylishly luxurious restaurant.
At the Wasini Coral Adventure and Restaurant, it is the laid-back, lush archipelago, bare luxury ambience and seafood to die for that will pull you.
A plastic chair on white sand with a long table clothed in a leso may not at first sound like a great restaurant experience. However, fun is not always about gourmet food served in a stylishly luxurious restaurant.
At the Wasini Coral Adventure and Restaurant, it is the laid-back, lush archipelago, bare luxury ambience and seafood to die for that will pull you. The beach is unspoilt, spotless, save for crushed seashells, corals and sea creatures. In low tides, you will be amazed by coral gardens that stretch out to the sea.
The restaurant is a 10-minute boat ride away from Shimoni, in a less-travelled Mkwiro Village in eastern side of Wasini Island, which is away from the crowds.
To get to the fishing village which has no electricity connection, visitors drive down to the port in Shimoni and then cross the Indian Ocean on a boat.
According to our guide, a local musician who narrated Swahili poems all through the boat ride, some of the friendliest and welcoming people live on the island. There is a plastic-free policy as locals seek to protect their only livelihood; fishing.
The small village with a population of about 3,000 people played host to the Global Vision International project to study dolphins.
Wasini Coral Adventure and Restaurant is the only resort at this village and scuba divers, backpackers and travellers looking for seclusion frequent it. There is only one school and a dispensary.
One can choose to sleep at the hotel which costs Sh5,000 or stay with the locals while enjoying their culture and food. Aside from lazying around watching the ocean, tourists can go fishing, go for bush tours or venture deep into the village to shop for doormats and curtains made from flip-flops. Or you can take a boat ride from the village to Wasini Island’s upmarket restaurants.
Interestingly, the insecurity levels are almost zero. A friend forgot his wallet at the shore, went for a walk and still found it.
The restaurant mainly serves Swahili food. As the sun set, our dinner was served. We ate spiced seaweed with chapati, sweet potatoes cooked in coconut milk, fish, coconut milk rice with coco-tomato sauce as the waiter told us about its aphrodisiac qualities.
