Tiwi Beach Guide
Tiwi, Kenya - a Travel Guide
Tiwi Beach,Kenya slumbers under emerald palms and piercing blue skies. Golden sand is speckled with shells as big as your fist and coral caves hide secrets and treasures. Tiwi Beach is the lesser known sister to Diani Beach. No less beautiful, just different. Where Diani is striking with soft sand so white it hurts to look at it Tiwi is mellow yellow. No bars or shops or restaurants, only one large resort, the coastline is dotted with small fisherman style cottages and larger luxurious villas. Tiwi residents guard their secret fiercely unwilling to share it with tourists, and it’s not hard to see why. At Tiwi the reef comes close to the shore, a rock pooling playground a low tide, revealing unusually shaped pools large enough to snorkel in and filled with tropical fish. Sand bars stretch out to the reef filled with rainbow coloured star fish and naked sea urchins waiting to be picked up. Tiwi, Kenya is a seaside dream, a tropical Indian ocean beach nearly untouched by tourism.
Tiwi Weather, Kenya
The weather in Tiwi Kenya is warm most of the year. Even in winter it can be very hot in the day time, but at night when the wind blows and the rain thrums on the rooftops long trousers and even a sweater are advised. In the summer it can be punishingly hot, most Tiwi houses make use of the sea winds but air conditioning should be considered if you aren’t right up close to the ocean. There is no bad time to visit Tiwi beach. Tiwi weather in the cooler winter months of July & August is pleasant as the humidity drops, the wind picks up and you might just get to snuggle in a light sweater at night. During the rest of the year Tiwi is hot, hot, hot. The rains fall in April – June and October – November but it rarely rains the whole day
Things to do in Tiwi Kenya
Visit the Africa Pool
Hike to the starfish
To the north of Maweni beach is a sandbar beloved by starfish. While the starfish can be found all over the coast they gather in larger numbers in this particular spot to feast on sea urchins. There are two types of large star fish and they come in all colours and sizes. If you go with a guide they will fill you in on all the star fish facts: how they eat, how to tell male from female and lots of other starfish know how. The guides ask you to take them out of the water for photographs but I have come to understand this is dangerous for the star fish and can cause them to die. It’s a magical trip, trekking across the reef at low tide; finding a sandy cove filled with huge star fish…memories to last a life time.
Visit Diani Beach
Diani beach is a 20 minute drive down the coast and has tons of bars and restaurants if you fancy lunch, dinner or a trip out. Our Diani beach guide gives you the low down on Diani and suggests plenty of places to stay if you fancy a change. For restaurants, my favorite place for a meal is Sands at Nomads, a beachfront restaurant and boutique hotel that sells killer cocktails with a view across the whitest beach you’ve ever laid eyes on. The Salty Squid at Kenyaways has a similar beachside location with a more chilled out vibe. Both Nomads and Kenyaways have water sports facilities so you can kite surf, dive, windsurf of just hire a kayak and spend the day above or below the ocean waves.
Shimba Hills National Reserve
Towards the interior of Kwale country, approximately half an hour from Tiwi is Shimba Hills National Reserve. Mountainous rainforest hides elephant families, buffalo and leopard, Sable antelope, elephant shrew, bushy tailed mongoose and other forest dwelling animals. The scenic Sheldrick Falls and the dense Mwaluganje Forest is located here. The place is incredibly beautiful, the dense coastal rainforest one of the largest coastal forest in Kenya. It is definitely worth a visit when you are in Tiwi.
Tiwi Beach Hotels and Cottages
Tiwi beach is still virgin territory when it comes to big hotels and resorts. Our Where to stay in Tiwi article will give you all the information on where to stay in Tiwi Kenya. There is one large resort, Amani Tiwi Beach Resort and that’s it in terms of hotels and resorts. What Tiwi excels is large villas and smaller simple cottages. The coastal acres in Tiwi are owned by a small number of residents and land near the ocean is horrendously expensive and coveted. Most plots are large and include older fisherman style cottages, some faded resorts from Tiwi’s hey day which have fallen into disrepair and gorgeous modern villas built the the local environment in mind. Rental properties line the coast, the interior of Tiwi is local village, small huts and shamba’s that aren’t available for rental.
Travel to Tiwi Beach
Nairobi to Tiwi Kenya
Tiwi, Kenya sits approximately 1.5 hours to the south of Mombasa Kenya’s second largest city and closest international airport. It is 20 minute drive from Diani Beach, which has lots of shops, restaurants and places to stay as well as a well serviced local airport. Tiwi Beach is about 3 hours from Watamu and Malindi, the next largest coastal town.
If you are travelling from Mombasa then transport from Mombasa to Tiwi beach is best taken by taxi, cost should be approx 40 dollars one way. Don’t be tempted by the far cheaper tuk-tuks, you will waste hours of your life bumping in slow motion towards your destination. Be aware you will also need to cross the Likoni ferry which can slow things up a bit. If you are driving, the trip across the ferry costs 150 KSH for a car and they run every 10 minutes but the queues for them can be large.
Matatu’s also run between Mombasa and Tiwi, its a crowded, hot and sticky affair but vastly cheaper. There are also a couple of bus services, check Kenyabus more information.
Flights from Nairobi to Mombasa and vice versa run a few times a day, take an hour and are cheap. (Approx 50 USD one way). I recommend Jambojet and Kenya Airways over the smaller airlines.
Far easier to take the local flight from Nairobi Wilson airport to Ukunda airport. Ukunda is 10 minutes away from Diani. The flights are very frequent and they only take an hour. The are similar in cost to the flight to Mombasa.
The SGR train runs a twice daily, very cheap, clean and comfortable service from Nairobi to Mombasa and makes a cheap, if lengthy alternative way to travel to Tiwi beach.
It is entirely possible to drive to Tiwi from Nairobi, and many people do. The journey takes between 8 – 10 hours on the well paved but very busy Mombasa highway. You always have the option of stopping at Tsavo National Park en-route or driving through Shimba Hills National Reserve.
