Lamu and Shela sound like a couple; they are, in fact, a couple of towns, a few kms apart, on an island off the Kenyan NE coast.
This is our first immersion in swahili culture. The island's main industry is tourism, so no cars, no motorbikes, just donkeys and walking. To get here, we took a flight from Nairobi, from the airport walked 500m to a jetty, and hopped on a little boat that took us from airport island (Manda) to hotel island (Lamu) in 10 minutes. Mainly muslim, Lamu island has lots of beaches, but few swimming suits. Fortunately, there are a few beaches were tourists are allowed to wear their skimpy bikinis/speedos and get in the water. Priceless because it is really hot around here. Currently not high season meant that we had more sq meters of sand to ourselves than in any other beach we've been before. And it is very pretty, clear water and white sand.
We are staying in Amu House in Lamu, and old house renovated to be a small hotel of 6 rooms. There's no air con or hot water, but it is comfortable. High ceilings and a fan replace the air con. As for the hot water, you just stand under the sun for a minute and a cold shower is all you dream of.
The town seems middle-eastern in that it has very narrow streets, flanked by 3-story tall buildings, so the sun cannot hit the streets. Need to be careful when walking not to step on donkey's poo, or be run over by one. We also noted that in Kenya there are more pictures of Obama than in the U.S.
That's all we have to report for now. Apologies, but somehow we are having trouble uploading pictures. Tomorrow we plan to take a boat to a beach on a nearby island (where swimming and bikinis are also allowed).
Mercedes
This is our first immersion in swahili culture. The island's main industry is tourism, so no cars, no motorbikes, just donkeys and walking. To get here, we took a flight from Nairobi, from the airport walked 500m to a jetty, and hopped on a little boat that took us from airport island (Manda) to hotel island (Lamu) in 10 minutes. Mainly muslim, Lamu island has lots of beaches, but few swimming suits. Fortunately, there are a few beaches were tourists are allowed to wear their skimpy bikinis/speedos and get in the water. Priceless because it is really hot around here. Currently not high season meant that we had more sq meters of sand to ourselves than in any other beach we've been before. And it is very pretty, clear water and white sand.
We are staying in Amu House in Lamu, and old house renovated to be a small hotel of 6 rooms. There's no air con or hot water, but it is comfortable. High ceilings and a fan replace the air con. As for the hot water, you just stand under the sun for a minute and a cold shower is all you dream of.
The town seems middle-eastern in that it has very narrow streets, flanked by 3-story tall buildings, so the sun cannot hit the streets. Need to be careful when walking not to step on donkey's poo, or be run over by one. We also noted that in Kenya there are more pictures of Obama than in the U.S.
That's all we have to report for now. Apologies, but somehow we are having trouble uploading pictures. Tomorrow we plan to take a boat to a beach on a nearby island (where swimming and bikinis are also allowed).
Mercedes
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