Notes on Lamu

• Arrived July 12, 2021
• No cars on the Island.
• Airport pickup by boat
• There’s something about Lamu. It’s like a hidden treasure that tourists love but it doesn’t try to be something its not. A lot places that are popular with tourists end up becoming very cut and paste, with hotels and restaurants that look, feel, and taste like hotels and restaurants anywhere else in the world. Not Lamu. Its magic is how much it has retrained its own flavor.
• Reminds me of Zanzibar.
• Don’t wear your nice shoes or pants on the flight to Lamu because you’ll probably get them all wet as you get on or off your boat taxi to the Island. Wear shorts and sandals or shoes that are easy to remove. You come here to literally dive into the culture, history, water and sand.

Things you need to try out in Lamu

• The dhow sailing cruise
• Check out the floating bar
• Have drinks at the Majlis Resort
• Walk the streets of Lamu town which look mostly the same as they have for hundreds of years
• Have breakfast at Peponi Hotel. I hear it’s also a great place to have drinks in the evening.
• Try out fresh coconuts on the beach
• Spend a morning swimming and lounging around at Kijani House. Punctuate it with orders of passion fruit sorbet.

The most disappointing thing about our Lamu experience

Getting that great feeling of supporting local entrepreneurs after a dhow cruise and then being told that most of the boats, hotels and a ton of the properties on Lamu were owned by foreigners.