!!!Impressions of Lamu 
by [Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil|Infos_zum_AF/Editorial_Board/Ernst-McNeil,_Elisabeth,_MA_Hons_(Languages)], 2009

Lamu  [{GoogleMap location='Lamu, Kenya' zoom='7'}] is a small town on Lamu Island. It is some 350 km northeast of  Mombasa. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site and Kenya's oldest continually inhabited town. It was one of the original Swahili settlements along coastal East Africa, founded in 1370. 

The history and geography of Lamu are in every relevant school-book. Details of its grim past as a slave-trading centre are not so well known, but also documented. When the trade in “black ivory” became illegal in 1907, Lamu’s economy slumped. ‘Nuff said.

Shunning the beaches of Mombasa (too many hotels, tourists, and worrying reports of violence) we arrived in Lamu on a Monday in September and were ferried to the town (the airfield is on an island opposite the town) in a boat that had definitely seen better days, like so much in East Africa. The man whose task it was to hold in place the plastic tube leading from the (open) fuel can to the motor had a lighted cigarette dangling from his lips. Another man had to crank the motor to start it.

The way from the waterfront to where we would be staying took us past a large rubbish-dump where donkeys, dogs, cats, hens and small children patiently searched for eatables. There are more than 2000 donkeys in Lamu, and there is (fortunately) also a Donkey Sanctuary – the animals are mostly used for very heavy work and some of them are in an appalling state.

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[{Image src='Lamu 026_c_s.jpg' caption='The loads the donkeys carry are sometimes horrendous\\Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009 ' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}]
[{Image src='Lamu 054_c_s.jpg' caption='The men who loaded them with building materials certainly seemed to find them heavy\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009 ' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}]
[{Image src='Lamu 145_c_s.jpg' caption='Experienced animals know the route they have to take and are often unaccompanied\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}]
[{Image src='Lamu 027_c2_s.jpg' caption='They have to be people-carriers, too\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009 ' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}]
[{Image src='Lamu 137_c_s.jpg' caption='Some people are weightier than others\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009 ' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}]
[{Image src='Lamu 047_c_s.jpg' caption='There is always room in Lamu to park your donkey\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009 ' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}]
[{Image src='Lamu 053_c_s.jpg' caption='Even during working hours a donkey sometimes has a few minutes to itself\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}]
[{Image src='Lamu 060_c_s.jpg' caption='Fortunately some loads are not as heavy as they look\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009 ' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}]
[{Image src='Lamu 036_c_s.jpg' caption='If you are really in a hurry, man-power is sometimes more reliable for shifting loads\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009 ' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}]
[{Image src='Lamu 136_c_s.jpg' caption='Meat has to travel from the slaughter-house at top speed in Lamu’s climate\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009 ' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}]
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The roads and alleyways are much too narrow for cars, so instead of  horsepower read donkey-power. Lamu had two motor vehicles in 2009 – the District Commissioner’s car, and the ambulance which doubled as a bus-cum-taxi. 

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[{Image src='Lamu 031_c_s.jpg' caption='Never argue with a donkey about who goes first\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009 ' alt='Lamu' height='400' class='image_block' width='600'}]
[{Image src='Lamu 035_c_s.jpg' caption='It is cool in the shade of the houses, even in the heat of the day\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009 ' alt='Lamu' height='400' class='image_block' width='267'}]
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Donkeys always have the right of way and they are so much an institution in Lamu that the annual donkey race is perhaps the best-known part of the Maulidi Festival there, although the dhow race also has a rich tradition. The local cats are a feature of the place, too – thin whippy animals with big ears and loud voices, they are said to be direct descendants of the cats worshipped by the ancient Egyptians and are assumed to have come to Lamu on trading ships from Egypt.

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[{Image src='Lamu 016_c_s.jpg' caption='The cats gather when fishing-boats come in\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009 ' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}]
[{Image src='Lamu 087_c_s.jpg' caption='A cat with attitude\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009 ' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}]
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As you’d expect from a coastal settlement, the sea plays and always has played an important role for the people of Lamu: Lamu Town dates back to the 14th century and the area was settled long before that. 

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[{Image src='Lamu 027_c_s.jpg' caption='Part of the Omani fort built in the 19th century. It now houses a museum\\Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='200'}]
[{Image src='Lamu 050_c_s.jpg' caption='The main tower of the fort\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009 ' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='200' }]
[{Image src='Lamu 117_c_s.jpg' caption='Some of the roofs in town are in need of repair\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}]
[{Image src='Lamu 030_c_s.jpg' caption='Carved wooden doors are a speciality of East Africa, and particularly of Lamu\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='200'}]
[{Image src='Lamu 130_c_s.jpg' caption='A more superior residential area\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009' alt='Lamu' height='450' class='image_block' width='675'}]
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Unfortunately there is no jetty for the fishermen, and so their boats are stranded on the mud-flats at ebb-tide. This also means they often can’t land their catch when it’s fresh. Of course, the promised Chinese investment in Lamu may now have changed all that as the town is destined to become the new Kenyan mega-port. 

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[{Image src='Lamu 007_c_s.jpg' caption='Loading the boat at low tide\\Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}]
[{Image src='Lamu 010_c_s.jpg' caption='Children here have few technical toys\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009 ' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}]
[{Image src='Lamu 016_X_s.jpg' caption='Waiting for the tide, time for a chat\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009 ' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}]
[{Image src='Lamu 039_c_s.jpg' caption='Waiting for the tide\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009 ' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}]
[{Image src='Lamu 057_c_s.jpg' caption='Man and beast just have to sit and wait – patience is a virtue\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009 ' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}]
[{Image src='Lamu 104_cX_s.jpg' caption='Anyone working on a boat can be sure of an audience\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009 ' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}]
[{Image src='Lamu 152_c_s.jpg' caption='There’s no shortage of helping hands\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009 ' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}]
[{Image src='Lamu 014_c_s.jpg' caption='A ray\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009 ' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}]
[{Image src='Lamu 111_c_s.jpg' caption='Bringing in the catch\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009 ' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}]
[{Image src='Lamu 121_c_s.jpg' caption='Mending the sail\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}]
[{Image src='Lamu 093_c_s.jpg' caption='Fishing in shallow water\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009 ' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}]
[{Image src='Lamu 145_c2_s.jpg' caption='A boat more suited for carrying goods\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009 ' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}]
[{Image src='Lamu 012_c_s.jpg' caption='Boats tend to be overloaded\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009 ' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}]
[{Image src='Lamu 104_c_s.jpg' caption='The ferries are no exception\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009 ' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}]
[{Image src='Lamu 038_c2_s.jpg' caption='It comes as a surprise that some boats still float\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009 ' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}]
[{Image src='Lamu 043_c_s.jpg' caption='They don’t always look seaworthy\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009 ' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}]
[{Image src='Lamu 088_c_s.jpg' caption='Sacred ibises scavenge on the mudflats\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009 ' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}]
[{Image src='Lamu 110_c_s.jpg' caption='Marabou storks are also present in large numbers\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009 ' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}]
[{Image src='Lamu 027_c2_s.jpg' caption='There are rich pickings for any numbers of scavengers in the rubbish\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009' alt='Lamu' height='450' class='image_block' width='675'}]
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The inhabitants of Lamu are a mixture of peoples – of Bantu origin, Arab, Indian, Somali, to name just a few.

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[{Image src='Lamu 002_c2_s.jpg' caption='Bright colours are favoured\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009 ' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}]
[{Image src='Lamu 038_cc_s.jpg' caption='A hair-do for a special occasion\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009 ' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}]
[{Image src='Lamu 063_c_s.jpg' caption='Traditionally a womans task\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009 ' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}] 
[{Image src='Lamu 077_c2_s.jpg' caption='By no means all women were fully veiled in public\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009 ' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}]
[{Image src='Lamu 146_c_s.jpg' caption='Some were, some weren’t\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009 ' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}]  
[{Image src='Lamu 115_c_s.jpg' caption='Combining modern means of communication with traditional means of transport\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009 ' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}]  
[{Image src='Lamu 128_c_s.jpg' caption='Some Masai come to the coastal areas to try to earn a little money\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009 ' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}]
[{Image src='Lamu 133_c_s.jpg' caption='Bringing the shopping home\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009 ' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}]  
[{Image src='Lamu 049_c2_s.jpg' caption='Swahili women are the fruit and vegetable vendors in the market\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009 ' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}]  
[{Image src='Lamu 135_c_s.jpg' caption='They are astute business women\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009 ' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}]  
[{Image src='Lamu 142_c_s.jpg' caption='The men often wear a kikoy, the traditional wrap-around skirt-like garment\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009 ' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}]
[{Image src='Lamu 150_c2_s.jpg' caption='Dressed in their Sunday best\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009 ' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}] 
[{Image src='Lamu 132_c_s.jpg' caption='A magic potion salesman?\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009 ' alt='Lamu' height='450' class='image_block' width='675'}] 
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Ali Hippy is a Swahili and an institution. We had heard that he would cook for you in his house in the evening and he and his children would play Swahili folk-songs for visitors. Contact was duly made,  Ali named the price, and we arranged a date and time. We would be eating fish, we were told, and one of his sons would fetch us. At the appointed time his son, a gangling youth,  appeared, gestured that we should follow him, and strode off at speed, with us struggling to keep up.

Ali’s house was in what seemed to be a separate village, quite some way from the outskirts of Lamu Town where we were staying. It was growing dark as we reached it and Ali Hippy invited us to sit in his yard, where a blanket had been spread out on the ground for us. A small fire was burning in the centre of the yard, and that was the only light. Ali’s wife and several children brought us the fish, which was in a rich sauce and served with ugali, which is Swahili for the basic maize flour dish eaten in the whole of East Africa. As if it were plasticine, you can form a kind of spoon with it for food that would otherwise be a problem without cutlery.  One of us remarked to Ali that his wife seemed very young to have so many children, and he explained that this was his second wife. “I have seven children with my first wife, so I had to divorce her because she wouldn’t take the tablets.”  

If you go to Lamu, we’d been told, you must take a boat trip in a dhow, preferably to Shela Beach.

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[{Image src='Lamu 009_c_s.jpg' caption='A dhow, easily recognizable by its triangular sail\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009 ' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}] 
[{Image src='Lamu 020_c_s.jpg' caption='Dhows come in different shapes and sizes\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009 ' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}] 
[{Image src='Lamu 044_c_s.jpg' caption='Dhows often look elegant\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009 ' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}] 
[{Image src='Lamu 082_c_s.jpg' caption='Acrobatics on the outrigger\\ Photo ©: Elisabeth Ernst-McNeil 2009 ' alt='Lamu' height='300' class='image_block' width='450'}]
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So we did. We chose a boat captained improbably by Omar Sharif (that’s what he said he was called) and on the way to Shela Beach we learned that dhows are extremely difficult to steer, seem to need bailing an awful lot, require  balancing acts with an outrigger, and that we really should have chosen one with a motor. The beach, when we finally reached it, was a bit of a let-down. While there was nothing wrong with it, I’ve been on beaches just as beautiful far nearer home. 


The rainy season started sooner than we had been expecting, and with it our stay in Lamu came to an end. I think I can truly say it was unforgettable.




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