Half day trip Hindu Temples Tour

This Half Day Trip Includes:

• Hotel pickup and drop-off

• A local guide/driver for the whole tour

• Entrance fees

• Snacks and water bottle

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Pick-up in the morning from the hotel after breakfast 09:00 or after lunch 14:00

Return by lunch time or before dusk drop off at the hotel

 

Itinerary:

 

Nyali bridge

The bridge was opened in 2002 and is one of three road links out of Mombasa (the others being the Kipevu and Makupa Causeways). The Likoni Ferry provides a forth transport link to the island, and is situated at the southern tip. 

 

Mombasa Train Station

The old narrow-gauge Lunatic Express was the classic way to travel between Nairobi & Mombasa, overnight in a sleeper.  In 2017 it was replaced by a fast daytime standard-gauge railway built with Chinese help, the new fast way to get between these cities - spotting big game while you travel! THE LAST TRAIN RAN OVER THE CLASSIC LINE ON 28 APRIL 2017

 

BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir

In 1955, the first BAPS mandir outside India was consecrated in Mombasa. This spectacular temple is the first ever traditional stone and marble Hindu temple to be constructed outside India.

BAPS Mandir Temple is beautifully decorated with gold like marble structures that is adorned with statues, gold spires and doors and plenty of other features that make it well worth your time and attention. The Mandir comes complete with shikhars (pinnacles), sthambhas (pillars) and ghummats (domes).

This temple was renovated in 2008 and was completed in 2012. All the carvings and artworks were done in India and shipped all the way to Mombasa. The inside of the domes is adorned with beautifully decorated peacock carvings. The peacock is designated as the national bird of India.

It’s located on Haile Selassie Avenue and is directly opposite the Tuskys Bandari Supermarket which means you won’t have to walk far from the CBD. Always there are guides at the Temple to take you through.

Just remember to adhere to some common courtesies like removing your shoes and you'll be in for one of the city's more underrated cultural exhibits and tourist attraction site.

 

Shri Cutch Satsang Swaminarayan Temple

The Murtis’ of Shree Sahajanand Swami, Harikrishna Radhakrishna and NarNarayan Dev were prepared in Bhuj. The Murtis’ arrived at Mombasa port on 19th November 1959. The Murtis’ were installed on 1st February 1960 after a Bhagvad Parayan, Vishnu Yag done by Shuklaji Jayashankar. The Provincial commissioner did the official opening of the temple building on 30th January 1960. Shree Laxmidas Madwani of Kenya sugarcanes did the flag hosting ceremony on 1st February 1960.

 

Moi Avenue / Tusks

The road runs from west to east from Kilindini to a roundabout with Digo Road. Originally called the Kilindini Road, its name was later changed in recognition of Kenya's second President, Daniel arap Moi. Moi Avenue is known for two pairs of giant aluminium elephant tusks crossing the dual carriageway. The tusks were commissioned in commemoration of a visit to Mombasa by Queen Elizabeth in 1952 and have remained since that time.

 

Likoni Ferry

The Likoni Ferry is a ferry service across the Kilindini Harbour, serving the Kenyan city of Mombasa between the Mombasa island side and the mainland suburb of Likoni. Two - four double-ended ferries alternate across the harbour, carrying both road and foot traffic. The ferries are operated by the Kenya Ferry Services (KFS), and is the only remaining ferry service by KFS. The Likoni ferry started operating in 1937. Passenger services are free while vehicles, tuktuks, motorcycles and trucks have to pay a ferry toll.

 

Mama Ngina’s Drive

This place is now called The Waterfront after the government of Kenya Invested heavily in its rehabilitation. It was opened on 26th December 2019 to the public.

 

Old Town

Buildings in the Old Town are influenced by Mombasa's trade culture, with many examples of Portuguese and Islamic architecture. In 1997, the Old Town and Fort Jesus were submitted by the National Museums of Kenya for selection in UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites.

The exact founding date of the city is unknown, but it has a long history. Kenyan school history books place the founding of Mombasa as 900 A.D. It must have been already a prosperous trading town in the 12th century, as the Arab geographer al-Idrisi mentions it in 1151. The oldest stone mosque in Mombasa, Mnara, was built c. 1300. The Mandhry Mosque, built in 1570, has a minaret that contains a regionally specific ogee arch. This demonstrates that Swahili architecture was an indigenous African product and disproves assertions that non-African Muslims brought stone architecture to the Swahili Coast.

During the pre-modern period, Mombasa was an important centre for the trade in spices, gold, and ivory. Its trade links reached as far as India and China and oral historians today can still recall this period of local history. Indian history shows that there were trade links between Mombasa and Cholas of South India. Throughout the early modern period, Mombasa was a key node in the complex and far reaching Indian Ocean trading networks, its key exports then were ivory, millet, sesamum and coconuts.

In the late pre-colonial period (late 19th century), it was the metropolis of a plantation society, which became dependent on slave labour (sources contradict whether the city was ever an important place for exporting slaves) but ivory caravans remained a major source of economic prosperity. Mombasa became the major port city of pre-colonial Kenya in the Middle Ages and was used to trade with other African port cities, the Persian Empire, the Arabian Peninsula, India and China. 16th-century Portuguese voyager Duarte Barbosa claimed, "[Mombasa] is a place of great traffic and has a good harbour in which there are always moored small craft of many kinds and also great ships, both of which are bound from Sofala and others which come from Cambay and Melinde and others which sail to the island of Zanzibar."

Vasco da Gama was the first known European to visit Mombasa, receiving a chilly reception in 1498. Two years later, the town was sacked by the Portuguese. In 1502, the sultanate became independent from Kilwa Kisiwani and was renamed as Mvita (in Swahili) or Manbasa (Arabic). Portugal attacked the city again in 1528. In 1585, a joint military expedition between the Somalis of Ajuran Empire and the Turks of Ottoman Empire, led by Emir 'Ali Bey, successfully liberated Mombasa, and other coastal cities in Southeast Africa from the Portuguese. However, Malindi remained loyal to Portugal. The Zimba overcame the towns of Sena and Tete on the Zambezi, and in 1587 they took Kilwa, killing 3,000 people. At Mombasa, the Zimba slaughtered the Muslim inhabitants, but they were halted at Malindi by the Bantu-speaking Segeju and went home. This stimulated the Portuguese to take over Mombasa a third time in 1589, and four years later they built Fort Jesus to administer the region. Between Lake Malawi and the Zambezi mouth, Kalonga Mzura made an alliance with the Portuguese in 1608 and fielded 4,000 warriors to help defeat their rival Zimba, who were led by chief Lundi.

After the building of Fort Jesus Mombasa was put by the Portuguese under the rule of members of the ruling family of Malindi. In 1631 Dom Jeronimo the ruler of Mombasa slaughtered the Portuguese garrison in the city and defeated the relief force sent by the Portuguese. In 1632 Dom Jeronimo left Mombasa and became a pirate. That year the Portuguese returned and established direct rule over Mombasa.

With the capture of Fort Jesus in 1698, the town came under the influence of the Imamate of Oman, subordinate to the Omani rulers on the island of Unguja, prompting regular local rebellions. Oman appointed three consecutive Governors (Wali in Arabic, Liwali in Swahili):

Mombasa briefly returned to Portuguese rule by captain-major Álvaro Caetano de Melo Castro (12 March 1728 – 21 September 1729), then four new Omani Liwali until 1746, when the last of them made it independent again (disputed by Oman), as the first of its recorded Sultans.

From 9 February 1824 to 25 July 1826, there was a British protectorate over Mombasa, represented by Governors. Omani rule was restored in 1826; seven liwalis where appointed. On 24 June 1837, it was nominally annexed by Said bin Sultan of Muscat and Oman.

On 25 May 1887 Mombasa was relinquished to the British East Africa Association, later the Imperial British East Africa Company. It came under British administration in 1895. It soon became the capital of the British East Africa Protectorate and the sea terminal of the Uganda Railway, construction of which was started in 1896. Many workers were brought in from British India to build the railway, and the city's fortunes revived. The Sultan of Zanzibar formally presented the town to the British in 1898.

Mombasa became the capital of the Protectorate of Kenya, sometime between 1887 and around 1906. The capital was later moved because medical officers warned that the ground was swampy, and urged Sir James Hayes Sadler, then Commissioner of the East Africa Protectorate, to plead with London to move the town elsewhere to mitigate potential disease. Nairobi has since been Kenya's capital to date.

 

Shree Parshva Vallabh Jain Temple

The first of its kind to be developed outside of the Asian mainland. Worked in 1963, this wonderfully enriched white marble structure is enhanced with statues, gold towers, silver entryways and a lot of different highlights that influence it to certainly justified regardless of your opportunity and consideration. It's found simply outside the southwestern outskirts of Old Town which implies you won't need to stroll far to discover it, and guided visits will be happily accommodated guests.

in Jaunary 1980 the primary Digamber Jain Mandir outside India was opened within the sight of Pujya Kanji Swami who went out of India out of the blue at 90 years old. The Mandal facilitated 400 visitors from India for the 26 day work which incorporated the pratishta, twice every day addresses of Pujya Kanji Swami and ious social projects.

 

Lord Shiva Temple

One of the oldest Jain temple outside India, recently completed 50 years. Located in old town area and easily accessible. Holy place for all devotees and followers of Jainism built in the traditional style in white marble.