Diani Beach

Diani sits on the Kenyan south coast in Kwale County, about an hour from Mombasa including the Likoni ferry. It exists on most itineraries as the decompression stop. After a week of five in the morning starts and long days in a vehicle, three or four nights here is how people actually absorb the trip. The offshore reef keeps the lagoon flat and safe for swimming, and the sand is genuinely white rather than the yellow you find further north.

Diani is not only a beach. Most of our guests split their days between the water and the forest behind it.

• Kisite Mpunguti Marine Park an hour south by dhow. The best snorkelling on the Kenyan coast, with dolphin sightings common on the way out
• Kitesurfing from June to September when the trade winds blow steadily across the lagoon
• Diving on the reef wall, with a range of sites suitable from first open water dives upward
• Deep sea fishing for sailfish and marlin, strongest between November and March
• Shimba Hills National Reserve a 45 minute drive inland, home to sable antelope and forest elephant
• Wasini Island and Shimoni for a full day of dhow sailing, seafood lunch and the slave caves

The wildlife here is coastal and forest rather than savanna, and much of it is found nowhere else in Kenya.

• Angolan colobus monkeys in the coastal forest, with a local conservation project running rope bridges over the main road to keep the troops connected
• Bottlenose and humpback dolphins resident around Kisite year round
• Humpback whales passing offshore between July and September
• Green and hawksbill turtles nesting on quieter stretches of the beach
• Reef life including moray eels, octopus, lionfish and more than 250 recorded fish species

Diani is warm all year. The difference between months is the wind and the rain rather than the temperature.

By air. Daily flights run from Nairobi Wilson and Jomo Kenyatta to Ukunda airstrip, which is ten minutes from most Diani hotels. There are also direct flights from the Masai Mara and Amboseli airstrips in season, which is by far the easiest way to combine safari and beach.

By road. Mombasa to Diani takes about an hour, including the Likoni ferry crossing. The ferry can queue at peak times, so we build a buffer into transfer timings rather than cutting it fine against a flight.

Good to know. Seaweed washes up on parts of the beach between roughly April and July. It is natural, hotels clear their own frontage daily, and it does not affect swimming inside the lagoon. Tides matter here. At low tide the lagoon is shallow enough to walk out a long way, which is excellent for children and less so for swimming.