Mombasa might be a modern city but just a few km outside people lice in small villages, in houses made of a kind of wicker frame filled in with mud. I had a local guide who grew up there and took me into people’s homes and “pubs”. They have a kind of local moonshine that must be filtered before drinking because the bottles must be left open. They’d explode otherwise.

We brought candy and were an instant hit with the local children. In one place I was distributing from the large bag but quickly found myself in a frenzied vortex of little arms tearing at the bag until the bag just gave up and candy went flying everywhere. I doubt that any of it hit the ground. My piranha experience in the Amazon was deadly calm in comparison.

If you go there, get in touch with John <mwangitours at gmail dot com>.