Lamu a different kind of paradise

Since our last driving adventure turned out to be a bit bumpy flying to Lamu seemed to the better choice. I've seen a photo of the airstrip of Lamu and it's nothing more than a sandy stretch in between the mangroves and the ocean so I already knew we would not fly a jumbo there, not even one of the smaller jet planes could land there. It turned out to be a 12 seated propeller plane plus the pilot. I´ve never been a real fan of flying so I felt rather brave climbing on board. No safety instructions hmm, I then remembered a story told by a friend of mine who once flew on a small plane in Norway. The air hostess -at least they had room for one, started the safety instructions and half way through she said, of fuck it, if we go down, we go down, very reassuring.

The ascending was rather shaky and I felt nervous for a while, Noah fell asleep almost at once, little cool guy that he is. Once we were up among the clouds I couldn't complain, it was a rather smooth journey and felt a bit like sailing. When we were about to land, there were some really strong wind so we didn't float over the airport or airstrip like one normally would, we flew down so to speak. Imagine sailing a large boat into port during storm, well I guess it would be something similar to that. However it did not last long and I was happy we had reached our near destination
(I tried not to think about the journey back), I wiped my slightly moist palms, got out of the plane and tried to look cool. An instant almost unexpected heat welcomed us.















Lamu is a different kind of paradise, a little island in the Indian Ocean just off the Kenyan coast. The history tells about a wealthy trading port busy with merchants, sultans and their slaves tracing some 600 years back in time. The dwindling alleys, coral and limestone houses comprises the oldest and best preserved East African Swahili settlement, now part of the UNESCO World heritage. Even today the island attracts noble visitors such as princess Caroline of Monaco, Mick Jagger and so forth and it is not hard to understand why, here they can be totally undisturbed, no paparazzi, empty sun kissed beaches, the warm Indian Ocean and delicious seafood. However I am quite sure the celebrities don't stay in Lamu town, more likely at one of the 5-star hotels located on a secluded beach.


In order to get to Lamu we had to cross the straight by boat, you could actually see the town from the opposite side. The jetty was already full of people waiting to cross, most of them were not tourists or at least they didn't look like tourists to me. The warm breeze was a blessing to our warm bodies, we tried to hold on to Noah in the pram, the jetty had large gaps of missing wood but with some effort we managed to get both our bags, our son, now dressed in a bright yellow life west on board a boat. It would cost us 400 Ksh to cross, an equivalent of 4 Euros.

As we are approaching the quay children are jumping in and out of the water giggling and screaming with joy while women are piercing at us through their black bui bui's. Lamu is a Muslim society and one is likely to see veiled women and men dressed in the traditional kanzu. Our hostess later tells me that this is indeed a Muslim society but not an overly strict one, for a Westerner the bui bui may seem strict but we do not know what goes on underneath.. Everywhere we are greeted with a smile and a - Karibu (welcome) and it seems rather genuine. I have to admit though that we were a little shocked by the ruralness of Lamu, I mean we did know that there were no cars here except from one 3-wheeled ambulance and a Landrover and that donkeys were the public transport but I suppose we were still in a Swedish state of mind, expecting neat and cleanliness.

This is not some typical holiday resort built to cater for the needs of tourists, this is Lamu, real and raw and far more interesting. We follow our porter through the narrow alley ways, trying not to step in donkey poo oh well sooner or later we will but in the meantime I would like to remain clean thank you! Most alley ways are only 1 to 2 meters wide and one quickly has to find a door way to hide in while donkeys pass with their heavy load and believe me they come at full speed. The town is about 10 alleyways wide and dates back to the 14th century, apparently some 40 houses are interconnected by upstairs passages so Muslim women in those days didn't have to leave the houses, sounds a bit like prison to me but maybe it was convenient.

We stop in front of a large carved wooden door, just behind Lamu fort, this is the entrance to Subira House, formerly a house owned by the governor of the Sultan built about 200 years ago, now a restored and beautifully renovated B&B run by a Swedish couple. Stepping inside is like entering another world, walking around town you wouldn't even know these oasis existed but behind a wooden door lies many secrets. We step into a beautiful courtyard, the center of the whole house, with two floors built around and above it. We take our shoes off and feel the smooth, warm limestone floor under our feet, we climb the stairs with exceptionally high steps to the first floor looking over another open courtyard with a small garden of flowers, a frangipani tree and pink bourganvillas hanging down from the roof. The first floor has 4 rooms all beautifully decorated in swahili style with four poster wooden beds, small tables with inlayed pottery and outside on the terraces you can relax in one of the daybeds decorated with colorful fabrics and pillows. The architecture and beautiful design of these swahili houses allows for a social lifestyle yet in privacy. All the open spaces and terraces lets the ocean breeze cool the interior and its inhabitants. Late in the evening the floor is still warm from the strong Kenyan sun, Lamu is situated only two degrees south of the equator.

To be continued...