Sailing a Dhow at Sunset: What Actually Happens on the Water

A dhow is a wooden boat with a single lateen sail — a triangle set on a long spar that the crew swings across the mast when they tack. The design is Arab in origin, and it carried the trade that built Lamu, Mombasa and Zanzibar. The boats still working the Kenyan coast are mostly jahazi, the larger cargo type, restored for passengers.

Departure

Most sunset sailings leave Tudor Creek or the Old Port between four and half past. You board off a jetty or, at low tide, from a small tender. Shoes come off. The crew raises the sail by hand — four or five men on a halyard, chanting the count, which is the moment most people reach for a camera.

The route

You run out through the creek past Fort Jesus, which looks completely different from the water: you finally understand why the Portuguese put it exactly there. Then out towards the harbour mouth as the light goes orange, usually with the engine off and only the sound of water on the hull.

What is served

Swahili canapés — mishkaki skewers, samosas, kachori, coconut sweets — and a bar. Most operators include soft drinks and charge for beer and spirits. On the better boats a taarab player comes along, which transforms the trip.

Practical notes

Take a light layer; the breeze picks up after sunset. The deck is cushioned but there is little shade, so the last hour of sun is strong. Trips run about two and a half hours and cost between KSh 4,000 and KSh 8,000 a head. Chartering the whole boat for a group of twenty is usually cheaper per person than booking individual seats.

If you only do one thing on the water in Mombasa, this is it — not because it is spectacular, but because it is the same trip people have been making off this coast since long before anyone thought to call it a holiday.