Zucchero, Bruno Vespa, Leone di Lernia, Giorgio Napolitano and Bacio Perugina are only few of the 500 beach boys of Malindi. Guys between 20 and 30 years old, that to find an alternative to unpaid jobs they sell excursions, souvenirs and plenty of dreams. For the hotels managers are a problem because they disturb with insistent proposes the clients and because they are a competition with the services offered by the resorts. Instead, for their families, are resources to escape from the poorness. The most skilled (no more than a dozen) are able to gain till 800 Euro per month (around 80.000 KSh). It is a big amount of money, considering that 10.000 KSh is the average of the salaries of local employees, employed in the resorts. The rules of the beach are made by the “mayor”, means the highest in a hierarchy invented by them. To become a mayor it’s indispensable to get at least 300 clients per year. There is an estimation that the 20 local agencies based in Malindi have a turn over of almost 2 million of Euro per year even if the earnings for each beach boy (around 30% of commission) doesn’t reach 2000 Euro per season.
