Kenya Nzuri: Lamu Weekend Getaway - Donkeys, Dhows, Doors, and my Chinese Brothers?

After much anticipation, the trip Lamu finally came to fruition! Lamu is an island off the Northern coast of Kenya close to the Somalia border and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

With Kenya's war in Somalia, there has been several Al Shabaab attacks in recent months, and a couple kidnappings in Lamu.  As a result, we had some debates on whether we would cancel the trip, particularly because we were going there during the weekend that the Lamu Cultural Festival is taking place.  I was glad that thing quiet down, and we stuck to the original plan!

The Kenyan coast is so different from the rest of the country.  Lamu is one of the best-preserved Swahili town, and the town has a large Portuguese and Arab influence. Swahili women are all covered up in these black buibui, and men dress in traditional clothes very similar to the ones in Kano, Nigeria actually.  Legend also has it that the Chinese explorer Zheng Hue's ship sunk near Lamu, so there are quite a lot of Chinese porcelain influence, and actually were evidences that people in Lamu has some DNA link to Chinese people!  Who knows!?  Being called a "sister" all of a sudden take on a whole new meaning here!  It's also quite ironic that the Chinese is now working to turn Lamu, the site that sunk one of its greatest historical navigator, into the largest port in East Africa as part of their String of Pearl strategy.

The most interesting thing to me is, people in Lamu are surprisingly punctual, definitely an anomaly for Africa!  And just when you think Kenyans can't be friendlier, the folks here took hospitality to a whole new level.  Everywhere we walked, people welcomed us.  The relaxed atmosphere also was a breathe of fresh air from Nairobi. In fact, when we were shopping at the local silversmith's store, he nicknamed us "Nairobbery" because we were so aggressive in haggling that he felt we were robbing him (yet, he still smiled and gave each one of us Lamu mangoes to take home when we left)!

The narrow streets of Lamu are adorned with coral walls and beautifully carved mahogany doors.  donkeys were everywhere (as it's the main mean of transportation to navigate the narrow streets)...I was obsessed with the donkeys, and was disappointed that I couldn't witness (or participate) in the donkey race, but guess that will have to wait until next time. (for those interested in history of donkeys in Africa, thanks to my friend Emily, here's a good resource).  It's funny how people gladly share each other's donkeys.  I supposed the liability is much lower when you lend someone your donkey vs. your BMW.  

One other amazing thing is that it feels as though foreigners own most of the more expensive properties, while the locals gets pushed to the Swahili side of town.  We were first intrigued why the dhows in the competition all have flags from countries like Holland, Italy...etc., then we realized that it's because the dhow's owner were not local...they buy the boat (for roughly 1 million Kenyan schillings), then let to locals to sail, and the dhows bear the flags of the owner's home country.  Same for the houses, many of the nice old Swahili houses were renovated and turned into vacation houses or hotels.  It's quite surprising to see the % of houses on Lamu island and Shela that's owned by foreigners.  

 

      

The sunset dhow ride is definitely a highlight of a Lamu trip.  Riding on the traditional Arab sailboat was definitely a nice "Sinbad" moment...when the day gets dark, the stars in the skies were absolutely amazing, and I saw not 1, but 2 shooting stars...definitely a first and awesome experience!

Most tourist or expats stay in Shela village, which is about 10 minutes boat ride from Lamu.  The beach there is so deserted it feels like a whole different world. Almost like a scene from the 2nd Pirates of the Caribbean.  We splurged a bit at Peponi hotel for lunch, which was beautiful and serves delicious food!

To me, Lamu exemplifies the ideal small town living, everyone seem to know everyone, and life is so simple that people look for a reason to get together and have a good time.  It's probably the closest thing to paradise I've seen so far!