#4205 Levitating Amongst the Mangroves at Mida Creek in Watamu, Kenya

A hidden track leads away from the Mombasa-Malindi road into the coastal forest. After bumping along past a tiny village or two, you pull into a small parking area flanked by a thatched structure that is at once ticket booth, gift shop, and mini-museum. Beyond, you can see the glistening mud flats of Mida Creek at low tide. A small fee is paid (much of which goes to support local secondary school students through the ASSETS program), and you walk down a wooded path to the star attraction: a suspended walking bridge that extends out some 250 meters through the canopy of the mangrove forest toward the waters of the estuary. The creaking of the planks and ropes blends with the sounds of low tide: the crackle of bubbles escaping the mud, the call of a gull, and the chitter of crabs as they ghost amongst the black knees of the amphibious trees.