I would rather you do the longer route for the novices since it will be more adveturous since you are vacation anyway.
You are not going to do any business in Malindi except to s*x.

With a 2WD??.....Don't. Unless you are looking for trouble. It's really rough so much even some off road pretenders struggle.

Thank you very much.

I was telling Najob Balala that the greatest challenge with our tourism sector is that even simple information is so hard to get! For the last one month KWS, KENHA, KERRA, MAGICAL KENYA and Najib himself could not [or chose not to] answer my question....then I remembered that I was a member of Wazua...and in in one hour I got a comprehensive answer.

Kaloleni Road is amazing.......you can even use it to get to Nyali. See below real life experience in August 2016 posted on FB:

Did this route this morning. Took 55mins from the mariakani turn off to passing the cement factory. I am sure Google Maps took us a little further out as we came out on the main Malindi road just before the Serena junction. The first 17-18km are heaven - fully tarmacked (watch out for a couple of sneaky bumps) After that, the next 3k are a bit rough. After that, it's fairly fast as the road is graded. Best advice was to use google Maps as there are a lot of turns. Thanks again!

Pole Chi... for hijacking your post but its more of the same tangent?

I will be driving to Ukunda this December and I am reliably told to avoid Mombasa. I have not been to the Coast since 2010, so would require advice as I imagine loads have changed.

I will be driving a Nissan Patrol so hopefully the state of the road wont worry me too much. A couple of questions:
1) What is the optimum time to leave Nairobi?
2) What are the recommended stops ( will carry quite a bit of our own biting's so not necessary to eat) but loo-break and general rest/stretching.
3)Any stretches I should watch out for (thugs et al)
4) I am wannabe photographer as well as one of my younger ones - any detours I can take to capture Nature.

Any advice/tips will be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Samburu is easy. No issues.

Used this road last year, Samburu-Kinango-Kwale is graded murram with a few rough stretches then its tarmac from Kwale down to Ukunda.

My 80's era jalopy covered Samburu - Kwale in two hours and Kwale - Ukunda in thirty minutes.

If you have the time and want to see Shimba Hills I'd definitely recommend this route.