DIANI BEACH

Diani is Kenya’s original tropical paradise: palm-fringed beaches, caster-sugar sand and translucent, cornflower blue sea. The offshore reef which stretches the length of the south coast is a twenty minute swim away, and has been proposed as a marine national park and reserve.

Even at low tide, the water is deep enough for swimming and snorkelling, with shallow pools elsewhere for wading and paddling. Beneath the sea’s placid surface, an inner universe of strange rock formations, swaying weeds, and sculptured corals are dazzlingly lit by shoals of angel, jewel, zebra and parrot fish.

Every resort hotel hires out snorkelling equipment and some offer scuba diving facilities. Diani is also a mecca for windsurfing, water-skiing and paragliding fanatics.

CHALE ISLAND

This is a small private island with a "romantic" theme. The island is located about 600 metres from the mainland and 10 km south of Diani on the Kenya coast. It offers a nature reserve with a white sandy beach and blue waters, tropical rainforest, a wealth of animals, bird life and sulphur springs.

The only hotel located on the island is Chale Island Paradise, and the only people on the island are the hotel guests and staff. Chale Island is an ideal Indian Ocean Island beach destination for romantic getaways. Chale has a "lovers corner" on the northern side, which is famous spot for exchanging wedding vows. The island's hotel provides a private setting overlooking the blue waters off the Indian Ocean.

Chale Marine Park offers a perfect place to explore the underworld for divers and snorkellers. If you have time, you can go island hoping to Lamu, which needs to be organized prior to your arrival.

Chale Island offers sulphur-rich muddy swamps that are believed to appease and heal a wide array of skin ailments, and to make one's skin healthier. From a wildlife perspective, it is home to Colobus monkeys and baboons that budge in groups from and to the island during low tide. Other wildlife resident on the island are elephant shrew, bush squirrel, turtles, the bushy-tailed mongoose, bush pig, and suni antelope.

The most interesting culture that is maintained is of the Digo people. The Digo elders visit the island's sacred site to perform sacred rites and rituals whenever the community needs special help from their supreme being.