New Mombasa, East African Protectorate - Definition and Overview

'New Mombasa' is a fictional area in present-day Kenya, Africa in the video game Halo 2 and its E3 2003 demo version.

Although never actually stated, New Mombasa appears to be just offshore from the present-day city of Mombasa, Kenya. The file names for the relevant levels indicate that the shoreline city is Old Mombasa (corresponding to present-day Mombasa), and the offshore adjunct is New Mombasa. The central tower rising into the heavens is the tether point for a space elevator. (Three places in Kenya have often been recommended as space elevator tether points: Mombasa, Nairobi, and Mount Kilimanjaro.)

Originally the player, the Master Chief lands at New Mombasa to mainly fight occupying Covenant ground forces in order to fight his way to their cruiser; the demo ended with the Master Chief charging at a group of Spec-Op Elites. In the actual game version as the Master Chief, the player visits the old city of Mombasa in the second level, Outskirts. After driving down the beach and over a bridge, you enter New Mombasa proper and stay there until the end of the third level, Metropolis. At the climax of that level, the player must destroy the symbol of occupation, the primary Covenant vehicle, the Scarab, by boarding it. There has also been speculation that The Ark, which may remotely activate all Halo ringworlds, is hidden under New Mombasa. This would also explain why the Covenant attacked this one city only.