BEYONDTRAVEL

What is a Beach Boy you’re wondering? Well, it is mostly young local males who for the most part don’t have any other source of income than to sell cheap jewelry, coconuts or even small excursions….sometimes also themselves to wealthy tourists.

Everyone in town will agree that they are a nuisance which disturbs the nice image Diani Beach wants to project to the world. It doesn’t matter whether you believe this or whether you are trying to find a more complex explanation for their existence, however, some theories about them are ridiculous.

I have been told by concerned citizens in all seriousness that beach boys are basically crime cartels, organized by some mysterious mob boss and actually trained in selling cheap coconut ashtrays to innocent visitors. Biggest outrage of it all? Apparently Beach Boys are not even REALLY poor but basically pretending to be.

Now, anyone who has ever been in the situation of having to decline the offer of purchasing said items will know that Beach Boys don’t give up easily especially if you try to stay friendly because you are frantically trying to avoid any racist resemblance. But to go as far as accusing any of those individuals of having received any professional training in sales from some sort of organized crime boss whatsoever is simply hilarious.

Most visitors and white residents are somehow aware that here is another village somewhere with the name Ukunda but rarely have a clear idea of what that means. People will actually request guided village walks through Ukunda - that is how far curiosity goes.

Well, Ukunda ACTUALLY is the town that includes the beach fantasy road stretch mentioned called Diani Beach.  Diani Beach is one part of a much longer beach with many parts and names like Tiwi Beach or Galu Beach. 

So far so good, Ukunda and the Beach Road are in maybe 1km proximity to each other - connected by many small roads and one big one which leads straight from Paradise up to the real world. Although being officially one and the same town Ukunda and Diani could as well be on different galaxies. 

Ukunda is a vibrant local town  - busy, loud, hectic. But it definitely doesn’t fit the picture of what guests want to see or smell while drinking Gin Tonic on a magnificent beach. So tourists and white residents (with exceptions) don’t venture into the unknown a lot. Though every morning busloads of  locals will be transported to Diani Beach (clearly not for recreational purposes) to work in the hotels, cottages and so on. 

In the evening they are sent back home to Ukunda because not many Kenyan locals can actually afford to live on the Beach Road and so as not to disturb visitors. One part of the town (the majority) works for the other half and is at the same time totally dependent on those tourists to come. The other half depends on cheap and dispensable labor (can be let go in low season) to maintain those majestic resorts.