Diani Beach

Overview

Diani runs for about 17 kilometres of powder-white sand south of Mombasa, backed by coral rag forest and fringed by a reef that keeps the water flat and swimmable at any tide. It is consistently voted Africa's leading beach destination, and for once the ranking is fair: the sand is genuinely fine, the water is warm year-round, and the reef sits close enough to snorkel from a boat in ten minutes. Behind the hotels, the Diani forest is one of the last fragments of East African coastal forest and holds the endangered Angolan colobus - the Colobus Conservation project runs the rope bridges you will see over the main road. Kisite-Mpunguti Marine Park, an hour south at Shimoni, is the best snorkelling and dolphin trip on the Kenyan coast. Wasini Island, the Shimoni slave caves and the Kaya Kinondo sacred forest, a UNESCO site the Digo community still protects, are all within an easy drive.