Mombasa travels to the Swahili Coast and made some mention of the city, although he only stayed one night. He noted that the people of Mombasa were Shãfi'i Muslims, religious people, trustworthy and righteous. Their mosques are made of wood, expertly built. The exact founding date of the city is unknown, but it has a long history. Kenyan school history books place the founding of Mombasa as 900 A.D. It must have been already a prosperous trading town in the 12th century, as the Arab geographer Al Idrisi mentions it in 1151. The oldest stone mosque in Mombasa, Mnara, was built
Mombasa Air Services traded Cooper Motor Corporation. To provide capital and purchase larger, more reliable turbo-prop aircraft to operate scheduled services, the firm was sold to CMC who subsequently sold to the Sameer Group and the operations moved to Nairobi. The purchase of turbo-prop aircraft did not occur at that time, and the start up of domestic scheduled tourist services from Mombasa to the game parks was delayed until the nineties. At December 2010, this airline is out of service but Mombasa Air Safari is now under the same ownership as the original Mombasa Air Services, and continues to operate from Moi Airport