Watamu.
The best reef in Kenya, turtles hatching on the beach, and a coastal forest behind it that birders cross continents for.
Four nights, and the coastal leg we recommend for families and for July to September. The best-preserved reef in Kenya, turtles, and a coastal forest holding a bird that breeds nowhere else.
- Give it
- 4 nights
- Best months
- Dec–Mar, Jul–Sep
- From
- $560 pp/night
- Come for
- Reef, turtles, forest
A marine park protected since 1968
Watamu Marine National Park was gazetted in 1968, among the first in Africa, and the reef inside it is the best-preserved in Kenya: over 600 species of fish, 110 species of hard and soft coral, and a lagoon shallow enough to snorkel from the beach at low tide. Visibility from December to March regularly exceeds twenty metres.
Green and hawksbill turtles nest along this coast, and the local watch programme — running since 1997 — relocates threatened nests and releases hatchlings. If your dates coincide you can be there for it, and it is a better hour than anything a hotel will arrange.
Whale sharks pass between October and April, humpback whales migrate through from July to September, and Mida Creek behind the beach holds crab plover, greater flamingo and, on the mangrove boardwalk at dusk, one of the better sunsets on the Indian Ocean.
1968
Marine park gazetted
600+
Fish species on the reef
110
Coral species
1997
Turtle watch running since
Houses on the beach, and a couple of small hotels
Watamu’s best accommodation is houses — three- to six-bedroom villas on or just behind the beach, with a cook, a housekeeper and often a pool, taken on exclusive use. Prices are noticeably lower than Lamu for the same size of building.
There are also three small hotels we rate, which suit guests who would rather not have staff in the house, and one dive lodge for anyone who intends to be in the water twice a day.
Watamu is the coastal leg we recommend for families and for the July-to-September months, when Lamu is windy and the swimming here is calmer. It is also markedly better than Diani for reef and quieter than it for atmosphere.
Month by month
| Months | Weather | Sea & weather | Crowds | Our view |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec – Mar | Hot, still; 32°C | Calm; visibility over 20m | High over New Year | The best months, without question |
| Apr – May | The long rains | Rough and murky; many houses close | None | Do not come |
| Jun | Cooling, breezy | Improving | Low | Fine and cheap |
| Jul – Sep | Cool, breezy; the kusi | Choppier but swimmable — better than Lamu | Moderate | The best coastal choice in these months |
| Oct – Nov | Warming, still; whale sharks | Calming, clearing | Low | Underrated and quiet |
| Dec 20 – Jan 5 | Hot, still, perfect | Excellent | Very high | Book eleven months ahead |
Access
A 90-minute flight from Nairobi to Malindi and twenty-five minutes by road, or 40 minutes by air from Lamu. Crucially, direct charters run from the Mara and Amboseli strips in about 90 minutes, so no Nairobi night is needed between the bush and the beach.
What you pay to enter
Marine park entry is USD 17 per person per day, payable when you snorkel or dive inside the park boundary. Arabuko-Sokoke forest is USD 30 and the Gede ruins USD 10. All are included in every AETHER journey and itemised on your invoice.
Before you go
Hot and humid — 30 to 33°C with high humidity, considerably heavier than the highlands. Malaria risk on the coast is higher than inland; prophylaxis is important here. Reef shoes are worth bringing, and reef-safe sunscreen matters inside a marine park.
Five places we use, and why
A four-bedroom beach house
Exclusive use · from $560 pp/night
On the sand with a cook, a housekeeper and a pool. Our standard, and remarkable value for a party of six or eight.
A three-bedroom house at Mida
Creek side · from $490 pp/night
Behind the beach on Mida Creek, for birders — crab plover at the door and the mangrove boardwalk at dusk.
A small hotel on the bay
Sixteen rooms · from $420 pp/night
Well run, good food, a pool and a dive centre. For guests who would rather not have staff in the house.
A dive lodge
Twelve rooms · from $480 pp/night
For anyone intending to be in the water twice a day: compressors, boats, and instructors who have worked this reef for years.
A family house with a garden
Eight guests · from $640 pp/night
Set back from the beach with a lawn, a pool and shaded verandahs, which is what actually matters with young children.
The forest, the creek and the ruins
Arabuko-Sokoke is the largest remaining fragment of coastal dry forest in East Africa — 420 square kilometres — and holds six globally threatened bird species including Clarke’s weaver, which breeds nowhere else on earth. Birders come specifically for it; everyone else should still give it a morning with a specialist guide.
Mida Creek. A tidal mangrove system behind the beach, walked on a community-built boardwalk, canoed at high tide, and superb for waders. The sunset from the boardwalk platform with a drink is the coastal evening we arrange.
Gede. A thirteenth-century Swahili town abandoned in the seventeenth, swallowed by forest and excavated since the 1940s — mosques, palace, coral-rag houses and a great deal of unexplained history. Half a morning, and almost empty.
And the water. Snorkelling from the beach at low tide, boat trips to the coral gardens, diving on the outer reef, and whale sharks between October and April with an operator that does not chase them.
Four nights, as we would build it
Fly in from the bush
A direct 90-minute charter from the Mara or Amboseli to Malindi, then twenty-five minutes by road. The house is yours; nothing else is scheduled.
The reef
Snorkelling from the beach at low tide, then a boat out to the coral gardens. Afternoon asleep, and dinner cooked in the house.
Forest and ruins
Arabuko-Sokoke with a specialist guide at first light — Clarke’s weaver, Sokoke scops owl if you are lucky — then Gede on the way back.
Mida Creek
The boardwalk and the mangroves at dawn for waders, and again at dusk for the sunset. Otherwise, deliberately nothing.
Homeward
A late-morning flight to Nairobi, day rooms at a private club, and our concierge with you until you fly.
What pairs with Watamu
Select a region
Masai Mara
Amboseli
Samburu
Laikipia
Ol Pejeta
Lewa
Aberdare
Naivasha
Nakuru
Nairobi
Meru
Loita
Tsavo
Diani
Lamu
The Masai Mara, 90 minutes by air. The standard shape: six nights on a conservancy, four here, and no Nairobi night in between.
Amboseli, 90 minutes. Elephant and the mountain, then the reef. Efficient, and less commonly done than it should be.
Lamu, 40 minutes. A completely different coast — architecture and no cars rather than reef and turtles. Some guests do both.
Tsavo East, 90 minutes by road. The wilderness half of a bush-and-beach trip without flying via Nairobi at all.
On Watamu
Watamu or Diani?
Watamu for the reef, the turtles, the forest and a quieter, more interesting stretch of coast. Diani for the widest choice of hotels, the easiest flights and the better beach for small children. We send most guests here.
Watamu or Lamu?
Lamu for architecture, total quiet and a Swahili town with no cars. Watamu for the reef, the snorkelling and calmer water in the July-to-September months. Watamu is also better with children and cheaper.
When is the snorkelling best?
December to March, when the sea is still and visibility often exceeds twenty metres. July to September is choppier but perfectly swimmable — better than Lamu in those months. April and May are rough and murky; do not come.
Are the turtle hatchings reliable?
Nesting runs year-round with peaks between March and July, and hatchings roughly sixty days after. The local watch programme knows which nests are due; if your dates coincide they will call the house. It cannot be booked in advance.
Is it good for children?
Very. A shallow lagoon protected by reef, snorkelling from the beach, turtles, a forest, ruins to climb on, and houses with lawns and pools. It is our usual coastal choice for families.