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A continuous strip of beach runs between Likoni and Msambweni, backed by palms and broken once or twice by small rivers. Along the whole coast south from Mombasa to the Tanzanian border, there's just one highly developed resort area, Diani Beach . South of Diani, the coast is little known and, in most tour operators' minds at least, nobody stops again until they reach Shimoni . This is great news if you have the time to go searching out untrodden beaches by car, bicycle or motorbike (all available to rent), or using the good local public transport. With your own transport, or with a safari company, you can also visit the Shimba Hills National Park and the neighbouring Mwaluganje Elephant Sanctuary, either overnight or on an easy day-trip excursion. Most of the people who live along the coastal strip here are Digo , and their neat rectangular houses, made of dried mud and coral on a framework of wood, are a distinctive part of the lush roadside scene. Although they belong to the Mijikenda group of peoples, the Digo are unusual in being matrilineal: they traditionally traced descent through the female line, so that a man would, on his death, pass his property on to his sister's sons rather than his own. It is an unusual system with interesting implications for the state of the family and the position of women. However, the joint assault of Islamic and Western values over the last century has shifted the emphasis back towards the male line, and in many ways, women in modern Digo society have less freedom and autonomy than they had a hundred years ago.
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