Lamu Island: living like the locals at fascinating Lamu town

My good friend, Gloria, and I thoroughly enjoyed our first-ever visit to Lamu Island. Wow, it's so different from the rest of Kenya that we almost thought we had arrived at a different country. Our time there was a quite enjoyable Christmas vacation!

I had a crazy idea to ride a donkey... and I did it! When I asked some young guys if it was possible, one of them politely helped me.

Street food - roasted octopus

It's been said that the best way to travel is to live like the locals... and that's exactly what we did. We stayed right next to Lamu town's produce market, doing our grocery shopping there or at the small shops along the narrow passageways. When we didn't do our own cooking, we enjoyed sampling a variety of the street food.

Street food - pancakes

Enjoying fresh coconut water and staying hydrated

An example of the narrow passageways throughout Lamu town

Outdoor market area near Mkunguni Square
(I took the picture while up high at the Lamu Fort Museum)

Mkunguni Square is a common meeting place (I took the picture while at the Lamu Fort Museum)

Mkunguni Square became a crucial meeting point 100 years ago. It's named after the Mkungu tree, which is native to the area. The town square is situated right in the middle of the Lamu Old Town which was listed as a Unesco World Heritage site in 2001. The square is part of the Lamu Fort Museum, which came under the National Museums of Kenya in 1984.

I grew up playing the game of Carem and was pleased to observe its popularity among the men of Lamu. I watched them play during the early evenings in friendly, but quite competitive matches. I even chatted a bit with the current champion of the game. He and others were surprised that I knew the game. When they asked me to join them, I politely declined :)

While touring the old Lamu Fort earlier in the day, Gloria and I learned that a wedding was to be held there that evening. When loud Taarab music wafted throughout the town square coming from the fort, I went to take a look and was invited in! I only watched for 20-30 minutes, as the women arrived, and shot this short video (with permission). It was all so very fascinating! 

In the evenings at Mkunguni Square, local TV news was projected onto a large white board. After the news, Taarab music was placed quite loudly. It incorporates Swahili, Arabic, Indian, and Egyptian cultures. The lyrics are Swahili poetry, often containing a double meaning.

Masjid Riyadha was built in 1892, when a renowned Islamic scholar settled at Lamu and began religious instruction.
The mosque was declared a national monument in April 2018.

Masjid Rawdha is a very active Mosque at Lamu's sea front.
It was built in 1877 and renovated in 2017.

We enjoyed strolling around and seeing various features like these two old mosques. We also visited three museums at Lamu town. 

The Lamu Archipelago lies two degrees south of the equator, just south of the Somali border with Kenya. It's almost directly east of Nairobi. The archipelago consists of over 65 islands, the largest of which are Pate (not shown on map below), Manda, and Lamu.  

Lamu town's current population is about 6,000. The people are of mixed origin and referred to as Swahili (an Arabic word meaning 'of the coast'). Like all of Kenya's coastal regions, Lamu town's culture results from interaction between the Bantu, Arabs, Persians, Indians, and Europeans down through the centuries. The vast majority currently are Muslim, with over 40 mosques in the town. Lamu's current livelihood depends mainly on maritime industries, export of mangrove poles, and fishing.

As Kenya’s oldest living town founded in 1370, Lamu (situated on Lamu island) has a rich and colorful history. The town was one of the many original Swahili settlements that stretched from Somalia to Mozambique. It remained a thriving port town through the turbulent Portuguese invasions and later the Omani domination of the 14th century.

Originally the islands were home to the Bajun, but their traditions vanished almost entirely with the arrival of the Arabs in 1441. Lamu town was visited by Zheng He of China in the early 1400s. Vasco da Gama's Portuguese fleet were the first Europeans to discover the East African coast and Lamu surrendered to their rule in 1505. 

Historically a significant city-state, Lamu has traded for the best part of 1000 years, first under the nominal control of various Arabic magnates, then under the Portuguese, and finally at the behest of the Sultanate of Zanzibar, before eventually achieving independence with the rest of Kenya in 1963. While its exports included timber, amber, cowrie shells, oil seed, turtle shell, rhinoceros horn, and spices, the cash cows were ivory and slavery. In 1873, the British forced Sultan Barghash of Zanzibar to close down the slave markets. 

The Swahili houses made of coral rag still surviving today, were built during the 19th century. Until it was discovered by travelers in the 1970's, Lamu existed in a state of humble obscurity, which allowed it to remain well preserved for tourists today. By the 1990's many new resorts were developed making Lamu Archipelago is a premier beach destination.

The physical appearance and the character of the town has changed little over the centuries. The narrow, winding streets accommodate only pedestrian or donkey traffic. Lamu town is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as 'the oldest and best-preserved Swahili settlement in East Africa'.

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Be sure to view all 25 of my videos from Lamu by clicking here, as they play one after the other.