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Evolution of beach boys: From hustle to menace

Relaxing at the beach in Malindi. Hoteliers say the issue of beach boys had dented Kenya’s image abroad and discouraged would-be visitors. Photo/FILE

At the popular Jomo Kenyatta public beach in Mombasa, commonly known as Pirates' Beach, a lone tourist is seen strolling along the shore.

She is soon approached by a young man who starts talking to her.

A few minutes later, the man is joined by another man and it is at this point that the tourist begins to feel uncomfortable.

It takes the intervention of a trader from a nearby stall who goes 
towards the three and demands that the two men stop bothering the tourist, for them to walk away.

Such scenes have become common on the beaches of the Coast region in Mombasa, Kwale and Kilifi counties.

For many years, beach boys were known to target foreign tourists with various wares such as curios for sale. 

The trade gradually shifted to offering sexual favours for a fee, to the current situation where the young men are feared as a security threat on the beaches.

To some extent, the beach boys were even a tourist attraction, dazzling many visitors with their ability to switch from one foreign language to another with ease, despite the fact that many of them are school drop-outs and have never attended a foreign language school.

All this has changed and now county government administrators and tourism stakeholders are burning the midnight oil to come up with regulations for beach operations.

Every morning in Diani, Kwale County, groups of young and middle-aged men can be seen heading to the beach to ply their trade.

Some of the young men, who mostly walk along the Indian Ocean shores in the resort town, are genuine traders, known for selling items such as coconut milk or offering services such as boat rides.

Some even offer tours to other attractions in Kwale, such as the Kisite Mpunguti Marine Park.

Others, however, are often on a different mission.

"I met a man on the beach and he insisted on walking the whole coast with me. I just wanted to take a quiet evening walk, but that was not possible," said a Romanian tourist visiting Diani for the first time.

She explained that although she declined his offer to buy the coconuts, commonly known as 'madafu', and also refused his offer of a ride in a glass boat, the beach boy would not take no for an answer and continued to harass her.

The situation is so bad that managers of beach resorts have hired security guards to ensure that tourists are not harassed by beach boys while lying on the beach beds.

South Coast Local Tour Operators Chairperson Sally Mathenge said many stakeholders had received reports of tourists being unhappy with their holidays because of harassment by beach boys.

"We have received information where visitors say they are being harassed on the beach. This is because there is no proper law to guide the management of the beach," she said.

Ms Mathenge said operating on the beach without proper laws was causing the disorder, hence the need to come up with a law.

Stakeholders are now drafting a Kwale Beach Management Bill 2025, which they hope will be enacted and used by county governments to manage the beach while ensuring safety, cleanliness and proper monitoring of all activities.

"Once we have this law, we will have order on the beach," she said.
Police say they often receive reports of tourists being harassed on the beach, although these cases have decreased in recent months.

Diani Tourist Police Unit (TPU) Inspector of Police Godfrey Parteneu confirmed cases of harassment but said continuous warnings, as well as education to the beach operators, had slowed down incidents.

A 24-hour surveillance has also assisted in identifying potential criminals who may want to pounce on innocent tourists enjoying the scenery.

"Over the past two months, we have seen a reduction in these incidents, but not 100 per cent. We are ensuring that all operators along the beach join designated groups to help track and monitor any cases of harassment and this has worked," said Mr Parteneu.

Tourism stakeholders now hope that the law being drafted will help regulate the use of the beach, both sustainably and by ensuring the safety of tourists.

They also say it will help monitor all business activities on the coast.

Kenya Association of Hotelkeepers and Caterers (KAHC) Coast Region Executive Sam Ikwaye said it has taken more than ten years to come up with beach regulations, most of the time the process has been hampered by politics.

According to him, previous data from the Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) showed that 7 out of 10 tourists said they were dissatisfied with their visit to Kenya's coast because of beach untidiness.

"We want these regulations to be part of the laws in Kwale County. Beach management has been devolved but all these years no county government has come up with rules to protect the beaches which play an important role in the economy of the Coast region," he said.

He added that this would also promote accountability for some of the investors who are known to pollute the beach by dumping waste.

His views were echoed by Kioko Musyoki, general manager of Leopard Beach Resort and Spa, who said stakeholders needed to do something to ensure that Diani continues to be voted the best beach in Africa.

For instance, he says the touting of beach operators, also known as beach boys, was a nuisance to the tourists.

“Like touting of visitors, many are saying the beach is clean but the beach boys end up being a nuisance, all the beach operators should get their designated points,” he said adding that this will promote accountability and order, creating an enabling environment for visitors.

Last year, similar measures were put in place in Kilifi County.

A code of conduct and ethics for beach management was to safeguard and boost the tourism sector in the region by setting out standards of behaviour that apply to every aspect of beach dealings and relationships.

At the county, some hotels in Watamu have secured a section of their beaches and hired guards to watch over their visitors from being harassed by the beach boys.

Traders operating at some of the beaches blamed the situation on idleness among the youth who are jobless, some having dropped out of school with no alternative source of income.

Mwakamba Beach Management Unit (BMU) chairperson Suleiman Mwamnono said some young people who have initially been found harassing tourists were drug addicts seeking easy ways of funding their addictions.

"We feel very bad when we see that a tourist has been harassed by one of the operators along the beach. This is mostly done by those who are selling 'madafu'. It is always puzzling for us how a person only walks with two pieces of the coconut hoping to earn a living from it in one day," he said, explaining that such operators are always marked.

To sanitise the sector, the traders have advised every beach operator to be a member of a Beach Management Unit. Mr Mwamnono is in charge of all fishermen and beach operators along the Diani strip.

The unit members include fishermen, and fishmongers, but have also included curio dealers, masseuse, tour boat operators and coconut traders along the beach in order to promote accountability.

This, he says, has made it possible to keep order on the beach, except for a few cases where tourists end up being harassed.

He went on to say that in order to reduce the number of cases, each sector on the beach has a representative on the committee and action is taken when someone is seen harassing a tourist.

"When such things happen, we immediately communicate among ourselves. We also have our own rules and an operator will be suspended from the beach for a few days before being allowed back," he explained.

scece@ke.nationmedia.com