Earth Sandwich / City antipodes / Mombasa

Antipode finder · Kenya

The antipode of
Mombasa.

Draw a straight line from Mombasa (4.05° S, 39.66° E) through the centre of the Earth and it comes out at 4.05° N, 140.34° W, in the North Pacific Ocean, 1,325 km from the nearest dry land, off the coast of French Polynesia. The other slice of an Earth sandwich would sink.

Two globes: one centred on Mombasa, one centred on its antipode at 4.05° N, 140.34° W
Above MombasaAbove the antipode
Mombasa
4.05° S, 39.66° E · at about sea level · 1,208,333 people
Antipode
4.05° N, 140.34° W
What is there
The North Pacific Ocean; the sea floor there lies about 4,360 m below the surface
Nearest dry land
1,325 km from the antipode, on the coast of French Polynesia
Nearest town
Taiohae, French Polynesia · 1,442 km from the antipode
Nearest big city
Tijuana · 3,987 km from the antipode
Sandwich verdict
SOGGY the other slice lands in open water
Nearest exact spot
1,429 km away, near Metahāra, Ethiopia ⇄ near Taiohae, French Polynesia

Can you make an Earth sandwich from Mombasa?

No, not from Mombasa itself. The other slice would land in the North Pacific Ocean, 1,325 km from the nearest dry land (French Polynesia), where the sea floor lies about 4,360 m below the surface. Boats do not count (Sandwich Law § 1.3).

The nearest place from which an exact Earth sandwich is possible is 1,429 km from Mombasa, 17 km from Metahāra, Ethiopia. Its other slice would go down 17 km from Taiohae, French Polynesia.

How this was worked out: the antipode flips the latitude and moves the longitude by 180°. Land or sea comes from the OpenStreetMap coastline the map uses; the sandwich verdict and elevations come from the verifier's 0.2° grid (Natural Earth land, ETOPO 2022 relief); water names from Natural Earth; towns and populations from GeoNames. The city's position is GeoNames' point for it; a big city's suburbs spread tens of kilometres around that point, and the figures move with them. Generated 2026-09-29.