You don't see many telephone lines in Kenya - everyone has mobile phones because they are cheap and easy to use. I bought a phone, plus local SIM card, plus 1000 shillings (£8) of airtime for £25. Using it avoids the extortionate charges on a UK mobile and the irritating delays you get whilst your voice travels to the UK and back.

It's no IPhone 5 but you can call and text, it has Bluetooth, a 13Mp camera and a good torch - which is very useful here.

Topping up airtime is easy. There are little mobile phone booths everywhere, even in villages in the middle of the bush, which sell scratch cards. You simply key in the 12 digit PIN number from the scratch card and off you go. You can also get your phone re-charged at these phone booths (often using solar panels in the smaller villages).

The photo is of an M-PESA hut in one of the villages about 25km from Watamu. "Pesa"is Swahili for money and M-PESA is a mobile phone based money transfer system which is huge here (and in the Congo). Its popular because lots of people in Kenya work in the towns and cities and want to transfer money back to their family in the village, but they don't have bank accounts (and there are no banks in the villages). M-Pesa solves that problem - and given the need for western banks to keep cutting costs, I am sure that it will not be long before similar systems become the norm in the UK.