Vivacious life at Kenya's sin spot

KIUNDU WAWERU

During the day, Mtwapa in North Coast looks ordinary if not laid back. The air is thick, the heat dizzying and only a few people are on the streets. But at night, the town comes to life, with sin that can put Sodom and Gomorrah to shame.

It is at Mtwapa where there was drama earlier in the year after an alleged gay wedding was disrupted by an angry mob. Several suspected gay men were beaten and arrested.

A recent UN report identified Mtwapa as one of the fastest growing rural towns in East and Central Africa, and coupled with the town being a key source of revenue from the vibrant night life and high investment in real estate, the town has recently been embroiled in a boundaries tussle.

Being in Kilifi County, reports emerged that Mtwapa has been transferred to Mombasa County, a claim the Government, through Kilifi DC Katee Mwanza has denied.

Touted for its vibrant nightlife that pulsates more than in Mombasa city 18kms away, I decided to stake out one Friday night with a guide.

At 9pm, we drove around Mombasa town. Scantily dressed twilight girls were out in their hundreds. Visitors would be shocked to learn that some girls in buibui are not Holy Joan’s as one would imagine.

In Mtwapa, we are greeted by neon lights and booming music from bars lining both sides of Malindi Road and girls. Many girls are on the beat quite early.

Shops and cafÈs are open, boda boda and tuk tuks operators do roaring business while receptionists at lodgings book in clients, some on short boarding of even two hours.

Some minutes after 10pm, we roll into a club that sits at the edge of the town towards Kilifi. A manager in the club tells us: "Coast is Mtwapa and Mtwapa is Coast".

Best shows

My guide tells me it’s too early to sample the nightlife and we decide to cool our throats for a while at the club. We sit near the swimming pool that has a catwalk erected over it. The DJ, knee deep in the pool, looks cool as he spins hot numbers. He announces that revellers will be treated to the best shows.

And the revellers have turned up in style, girls mostly in the arms of white men, decked in dresses that inspire imaginations. Accentuating their slim figures are skyscraper stilettos designed to highlight the derriere.

Many more women are unaccompanied, checking out men in seductive coy smiles, their faces shining from make-up and occasionally wiping their brows with white handkerchiefs’ to keep the sweat at bay.

And when the show begins, the club’s resident entertainers glide into the catwalk over the pool in an Indian themed cabaret dance that wows the revellers.

The dancers, comprising men and women, then change dressing and take to the pool in what they call ‘splash’. They dance in the waters gaily to wild cheers. The girls change again into sexy bikinis for the bikini dance.

They sashay to the revellers’ tables, offering individualised performances.

We hit the streets again to find that Mtwapa is getting livelier. There are more girls on the streets soliciting money for sex. Cars appear and then slow down as occupants survey the area. Girls lean on the drivers’ window. A while later, one girl enters into a car while another one walks away, gesturing in disappointment.

Inside the bars, there are more girls. Where do they come from? One wonders!

Beer flows and surprisingly, every pub has its fair share of customers despite the high number of bars and restaurants along the road.

We stroll into another popular spot. Here, the clientele is mostly white and affluent revellers all accompanied by beautiful, elegant women. A manager tells us they benefit from word of mouth marketing.

"When the wazungu tourists go back home, they tell their friends. When you go to Mombasa, you can find good girls and entertainment at Mtwapa," says the manager.

Across the road is another club, also popular. Those who start early elsewhere end up here in later hours.

Not far away is another pub that has gained notoriety as a gay club constructed with poles and makuti thatch. It is here the gay couple had allegedly planned to have a wedding. On the ground floor, we find people in various stages of drunkenness, some sprawled on the tables. A girl, shouting at the top of her voice, slaps a stocky man and plastic cups topple over. I realise they are taking cheap liquor.

Upstairs, it is evident the rumour had some basis and we leave. Then at the next club, there are many people seeping beer as they play pool. Others are going upstairs while others come down all looking excited. My guide, a scraggly daredevil, climbs the stairs and a while later, comes back with a light skinned girl in a bikini in tow.

Speaking at ‘100 words per second’, the girl invites us upstairs for an ‘individualised dance’, which they call KK. KK is an acronym of two obscene Kiswahili words not worth publishing. "Individualised dance is a euphemism for a lap dance, for a price of course. You pay at the entrance upstairs (earning for the club) and then you pay the girls for the dance," my guide whispers. We decide to save the money.

Dawn is approaching fast and Mtwapa is still alive. Taxi and tuk tuk operators are still doing roaring business. Motorists are still picking girls on the streets that the lap dancer described as ‘cheap’.

"Us classy girls cannot go all the way with nothing less than Sh1,000," she had revealed.

Speaking of the stripper, we catch up with her later at an eatery as she leaves after a night of ‘work’. We hardly recognise her as she waves us to her table where she is having chicken and rice. She has changed into tight fitting jeans and a decent enough top fit for an in- law’s visit. Terming us mean for not taking her, she says we can at least pay for her meal.

"Mombasa and more so Mtwapa is a great place for a beautiful girl with brains," she says shaking her head to remove the fake hair from her face adding: "On a good night, you can make a lot of money."

Amanda, the name sounding as fake as her eyelashes, says she has managed to make a few thousands. She plans to rest in readiness for another long night at Mtwapa.

"People come to the Coast to spend. Lucky for a girl if she gets a mzungu," she says.

Exporting skills

So where does she live? "In lodgings," she says.

Amanda shocks us by saying her house is in Nairobi’s Komarock Estate. She and many other girls travel to ‘work’ in Mombasa during the weekends and holidays.

"I have a baby and house rent to pay. Life in Nairobi is unbearable with no jobs. What can a girl do?"

Commercial sex workers are exporting their services to other towns, as competition is stiff in Nairobi thus preferring Mombasa where people on holiday are willing to spend.

Amanda says she travels back to Nairobi on Monday to lead a quiet life until Thursday. However, when business is good, especially after nailing a tourist, she spends the whole week at the Coast.

December is the best time of the year and you can feel the excitement. The streets have more people and there are traffic jams at night, which is rare in Mtwapa by day.

The upcountry girls have joined the coastal women, whom with ravaging poverty in the area opt for a life of prostitution. They have found a home in Mtwapa where tourists shamelessly come to seek casual sex.

"Most of the girls who came to Mtwapa early own businesses here and even beach houses," says our source adding: "However, many never live to enjoy because they are dying from Aids or drug complications."

Dawn breaks bright and early at about 5.30am. At a corner, a couple is lost in an illicit embrace. Soon Mtwapa will be dull, hot and boring as its energetic workforce goes to sleep, waiting to begin the day at 7pm.