Diani Beach, South Coast of Mombasa, Kenya
The typically Swahili-styled beach house known as Asha Cottage is located on beautiful Diani Beach within easy reach of all its many facilities. White-walled and thatch-roofed, the house stands on an exclusive stretch of private beach front, and offers five bedrooms, a private pool and a terraced seating area.
‘The Ledge' dining and bar area offers breakfast (included in the cost of the room) and lunch and dinner. Primarily buffet selections include local, international (particularly Italian) choices and seafood. The well-stocked bar offers a wide range of local and international choices. The cottage also has its own spa area, which offers a range of treatments, and an air-conditioned snooker room and library.
Kenya coast
Kenya's north coast, one of her most popular beach holiday destinations, offers clear blue sea, marine parks, excellent water sports, coral reefs, monsoon winds, numerous hotels and beach resorts, family vacations, sun n sand, cultural and beach travel and more. Close to Mombasa, it is also within easy reach of Malindi, Lamu, Diani and many other popular Kenya safari resort hotels.
Location and seasons
Diani beach is 25 miles south of Mombasa. Kenya's stunning coastline (485 km from Nairobi) runs 700 km between the Tanzanian and Somali borders and is renowned for its silken white sandy beaches, coconut palms, sheltered lagoons, pellucid blue waters, remote islands, uncharted mangrove swamps and mysterious Arab and Swahili ruins, many of which date back to the 8th Century AD. An idyllic climate cooled by the monsoon, the Swahili coast offers a daily average of 8 hours of sunshine, and the hot steamy climate is tempered by the monsoon winds: the south-easterly Kusi, which blows from April to October; and the north-easterly Kaskazi which blows from November to March.
The background
Kenya's pristine and well-developed coral reef extends virtually without break from Shimoni in the south to Malindi in the north, some 230 Km in total. The reef is broken only in a few places by river mouths and creeks; and of these the deepest and most sheltered safe channels through the reef are those that lie on either side of Mombasa Island.
Accommodation
Asha Cottage offers five guest rooms (approximately 25 m2 each) tastefully decorated with a combination of African fabrics and artwork, Afghan rugs, European art, Swahili style Lamu ceilings, terra cotta floor tiles and solid mvuli carpentry work. All rooms have king-sized beds with mosquito nets and their own spacious bathroom, air conditioning and ceiling fans, and mosquito netting on all windows.
Dining and bars
The rooms are offered on a bed and breakfast basis only. Lunch and dinner are available at the cottage's dedicated restaurant, The Ledge, which overlooks the beach and offers a wide range of local and international choices (Italian, Swahili, Indian). Seafood is a particular speciality.
Child-friendly
Children are welcome.
What to see and do
The Asha Spa offers massage and reflexology.
The cottages also offer the services of a small local boat (ngalawa) with which guests can go snorkelling or simply meander on the reef (exposed at low tide only) which is about 1.5 km from the high tide mark. Some snorkelling equipment is available for rent or on sale in the Asha Boutique. Other water sports and deep-sea fishing are also easily available through neighbouring hotels and diving clubs (kitesurfing, diving, canoeing, etc).
Asha Cottage has a beautiful fresh water swimming pool that is very close to the beach, but remains private and discreet. In full view of all rooms and designed around 50 to 70-year old coconut palm trees, the pool is one of the centre-pieces of Asha Cottage. Chlorine and pH are controlled daily.
Asha Cottage has a separate air conditioned (one of the few in Diani Beach) Snooker Room equipped with a half-size snooker table, a lovely card table for bridge and card games, chess or back gammon and a dart board. It has a lovely outside deck overlooking the ocean. With a lovely bookshelf and a selection of books for guests to enjoy (in English and Italian) the Snooker Room is also a lovely place to sit and enjoy the before or after dinner hours in a relaxed company. All drinks and cocktails are served from this bar which also services The Ledge, right on the sea front, where cocktails and, wind permitting, lunch or dinner can be served under the palm trees with the ocean lapping up against the sea wall.
The activities on offer include swimming, snorkelling, sea kayaking, diving, water sports, dhow trips, glass-bottom boat trips, nature trails, butterfly farms, places of historic interest, visits to the nearby Shimba Hills (a coastal national park with plentiful elephant) or to the world-famous Arabuko Sokoke Forest, one of the last of the rainforests.
Other attractions
Diani Beach itself offers just about everything the visitor could wish for: restaurants, shops, golf course and night spots plus; the Colobus Trust, an area of indigenous forest that provides a sanctuary for the areas many colobus monkeys and the Kaya Kinondo, a cultural centre built around a sacred Kaya (grove) of the Digo people.
Asha Cottage - Diani Beach | Kenya Coast Hotels & Resorts
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