By Beatric Larco

Here's a unique setting for an alternative holiday at the seaside - no diving or energy-consuming water sports, but a week of massages, yoga, and ayurvedic treatments combined with an all-vegetarian menu where alcohol consumption is frowned upon.

It may sound like torture if your idea of a vacation is to party all the time or experience thrilling adventures. But if you are looking for something more serene, a spot along the south coast of Kenya offers respite in the warmth of the Indian Ocean.

In one of my daily walks along the beach in Diani, Kenya, an 8km stretch of white sand about 520km from Nairobi, where I've vacationed in the past, I found myself ignoring a Private Property sign, walking right past a tree house and stepping into a deserted but carefully maintained garden with a wooden platform to one side and earth-coloured, low-roofed buildings.

Shaanti Holistic Health Retreat read an orange sign on a large stone next to the secluded beachfront. I wasn't sure whether holistic retreat meant I would come across a group of singing monks or a religious sect performing rituals, but I wanted to find out.

Orange and red cushions and mattresses covered a cement structure, which was later described to me as the chill-out room, as I reached what seemed to be a reception area.

Tasreen Keshavjee, the managing director of Shaanti, approached me and with enthusiasm explained exactly what the retreat was about.

Shaanti represents a holistic approach to healing. Since almost all ailments and diseases originate from stress and anxiety, the best way to cure them is to attack the root cause.

Take away the stress, take away the anxiety and work on the mind and body so that the process is sustainable, Keshavjee said.

The retreat, which opened in November 2004, is the first of its kind in the area.

Most of the numerous hotels that line this tropical resort provide massages and other health and beauty treatments, but Shaanti offers a specific healing method aimed at improving both the physical and mental state.

The wooden platform on the beachfront is for daily yoga lessons and the tree house is the vegetarian restaurant. The buildings are rooms for overnight accommodation.

Signs are written in English with a Hindi-styled font. Furniture is covered by orange and red cushions, which are made from the local East African kikoi material, a colourful cloth originally worn by men but recently very fashionable among young local designers.

Most of the floors are made from local galana stone, and fishing canoes are used as shelves in the restaurant and in the reception areas.

Meeting Tasreen and seeing the beautiful setting were all it took for me to book a massage - an abhyanga - where warm medicated oils are applied to the body to improve circulation and promote relaxation.

Moments before the massage, the resident ayurvedic doctor from Kerala, in southern India, met me to see what type of herbal oils were best for me.

Ayurveda is a 3 000-year-old system of healing, taught by rishis, or Hindu sages. It is designed to create balance and tranquillity in body, mind and spirit through massage, diet and meditation.

As I lay on the massage bed, the oils were heated and poured in a small bowl. Then I was told to sit up, and the masseuse began pouring the warm oil on my shoulders.

This massage consists Beatric Larco savours the serenity offered by an ayurvedic spa on the African coastof rubbing the oil up and down the arms and legs by going over the back and stomach; it lasts an hour. Unlike other types of massage, you don't relax during the treatment, but the effects are intended to last.

I was given a robe made of kikoi to wear for the next hour while the oil soaked into my skin. I headed for the open-air chill-out room, which looks out on the Indian Ocean, and ordered a freshly squeezed watermelon and mango drink.

After that, I returned for more - an hour-long facial massage, and a taste of the vegetarian menu. My meal started with a green salad, followed by assorted tropical fruits.

The main course was a light curry served with cumin rice, lentils and chapati, a puffy bread.

Kenya's coasts are becoming known for diving and for opportunities to see whale sharks, but Shaanti is yet another reason for travellers - especially Western workaholics - to go to Diani.

If You Go:

To reach Diani, fly to Nairobi and then on to Mombasa. Call ahead to the spa and arrangements will be made to pick you up in Mombasa for the two-hour drive to Diani, which includes a ferry crossing.

Rates: A $50 (R325) day package covers brunch and dinner, two yoga sessions, and various ayurvedic treatments, including steam bath aromatherapy. Two to 14-day packages are also available, including a two-week weight-control package offered at certain times of the year.

Accommodation rates vary from $105 (R680) for a deluxe double in the low season to $185 (R1 200) for the same room in high season, which includes Christmas, Easter and January-March. Low season is April-July.

http://www.shaantihhr.com.

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