Lamu
A living Swahili town with no cars - donkeys, dhows and coral-stone houses, unchanged for centuries.
Overview
Lamu Old Town is the oldest continuously inhabited Swahili settlement in East Africa and a UNESCO World Heritage site, and it is remarkable less for any single monument than for the fact that it still functions as it always has. There are almost no vehicles on the island: transport is by donkey and by dhow, and the lanes between the coral-stone houses are too narrow for anything wider. The town is built of coral rag and mangrove poles, with carved doors, inner courtyards and rooftop terraces catching the sea breeze, and the rhythm of the day is set by the call to prayer and the tide. Shela village, 40 minutes' walk or a short boat ride south, has the beach - twelve kilometres of empty sand - and most of the guesthouses. Manda and Pate islands, the Takwa ruins and the Swahili ruins at Shanga are all short dhow trips. The Maulidi festival and the Lamu Cultural Festival draw visitors from across the region.
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