The success of Watamu in this season (first coastal destination for influx of tourists, the best "leisure" destination in Kenya, second only to Zanzibar in all Sub-Saharan Africa) is due not only to those who came for the first time on holiday in this equatorial paradise, but also to the phenomenon of the so-called "repeaters", i.e. those who decide to return to Watamu and slowly become a regular.
We have selected the main reasons why this phenomenon happens.

THE HOLIDAY SENSE: When you go on holiday, you experience the dreamed dimension, that of "sweet doing nothing".
Sea, sun, excursions in Nature, unhurried encounters, hobbies and passions to cultivate. Hardly anyone is convinced that they would totally abandon themselves to such a life, especially weighing the economic side of the matter. But many people swear that if they could afford it, they would embrace a place where you can also work without thinking about earning money, to "do something", always feeling a bit on holiday. So without fixed hours, without stress and with few obligations.
So if the primary dream remains to be millionaires, surely Watamu comes close to everything else, the exemplification of the idea of the nabob, the iconography of the hammock tied between two palm trees on a tropical beach on the shore of a blue and crystal clear sea. It's worth coming back for a taste of all this.
THE "MAL OF AFRICA": Even for those who are used to travelling the world and have experiences of other tropical paradises, sub-Saharan Africa is something unique and special. Nature, beaches, sea and sky scenery can also take second place, when that instinctive sensation of well-being that at first glance you don't understand, but that you gradually discover to be made of rhythms more in keeping with the heartbeat, of serene acceptance of your own time and nature, of rediscovering emotions buried by habits and stress of modern life, of improving your harmony with yourself. And this is what many people, for the sake of brevity and convention, call "Mal d'Africa". A feeling that then becomes nostalgia when you return to your homeland and that pushes you to return to the "cradle of humanity".

THE PRINCIPLE OF IMITATION: For a tourist who comes on holiday to Watamu, the fact of meeting so many countrymen who have decided to change their lives and start again at the equator, among many unknowns but also with the certainty of a life at other rhythms and with more time for themselves, is a stimulus to think they can do the same.
This on the one hand can be misleading, but on the other hand it allows those who are less naive to do the necessary research to try to understand if it is possible to move. A possible path, logically, implies a return.

LOVE AND SURROUNDINGS: One of the reasons that in recent years have led many Italians and Italians to return to Watamu on several occasions is having met Kenyan citizens and made friends with them.
Often these people have done their best (just as often not without specific interests) to make tourists experience the emotion of feeling at home in a completely different world, a world of hospitality, smiles, dignified poverty and simplicity. As a result, even in a somewhat overhasty manner, emotional relationships have arisen, resulting in equally hasty marriages or partnerships not limited solely to the heart. Surely there are hundreds of mixed couples who have formed in recent years in Watamu, particularly those with her Italian citizen and him Kenyan.
This has favoured not only the return, but also the settlement of many countrymen in Watamu.

THE BUEN RETIRO: The healthy climate all year round, fresh food like fish and fruit on hand, the house staff on minimum wages. These are just some of the aspects that make Italian pensioners lean towards "wintering" in Watamu, rather than a total relocation. Usually it starts with spending a few months on the Indian Ocean shore (up to a maximum of six allowed) during the winter season, avoiding the cold and the heating costs of the European winter.
Then there are those who enjoy it and even spend ten months in Kenya, especially if with his pension or annuities he can afford a housing solution of a certain level or if he has interests that lead him to feel good on the Kenyan coast. For the elderly in our home, the main problem remains health. There are those who add to the item "expenses" a good insurance, those who are always ready to return to Italy for treatment and those who have opted for African fatalism.

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