Kilifi New Year 2016/2017

img-20170103-wa0024 — Photo by Rinus Hartsuijker

Happy new year! I am 12 days late but it is only because I was still recovering from the nostalgia of the BEST festival ever.

A good friend of mine called Daniella and I had been wishing for a trip back to the Coast for ages. We kept daydreaming about our trip to Diani two years ago and always said we should go back to feel our feet in the sand. Now, it’s one thing to wish for something but another to actually do it. My pockets kept begging me to stay grounded whenever I felt the urge to go back to Coast. We stumbled upon this festival called Kilifi New Year . Looking at pictures of the past event, I knew we had to go. ‘Brokeness’ was real though. Has your bank account ever laughed at a plan you had. That was my situation. But where there is a will there is a way.

With the blessings of salary advances in December, I finally got enough to go for the trip. My oh my, Kilifi is just so beautiful.

20161231_121551 — The view of the Indian Ocean from Distant Relatives, Kilifi

The festival was held at Distant Relatives in Kilifi. It is a beautiful place and the festival tickets allowed for free camping for two nights. It was our first time setting up a tent and we felt so independent and worthy of girl scout badges after putting it up.

The festival was so amazing. The DJs and bands left me wishing I did not need to sleep. I barely slept over the three nights we spent in Kilifi. We survived on miraa shots to keep us awake. (do you know anywhere I can get these in Nairobi? They are just the best for kicking insomnia right in its rear) I literally slept for a total of 5 hours during our 4 day stay. We were always dancing on the dance floor or enjoying sun downers on the nearby dhow called the Musafir (they had the best gin and tonics guys)

rsz_ck8a0044-3 — The Musafir at night (Courtesy of Musafir website)

The venue had such innovative decor. They had a huge LED octopus on the dance floor that lit up at night, recycled plastic bottles on trees and haystacks for the chill zone. The most memorable part of our trip was the ‘burning hand’. Fireworks are so 2016! They set a wooden hand ablaze and it was really a site to behold.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BOxWFmbhz_z/?taken-by=salomeayugi&hl=en

There is so much to describe about how splendid the festival was but I will just let the photos do all the work and speak for themselves.