You got to go to Lamu man

"You got to go to Lamu man." I lost count how many time we heard that phrase while talking to fellow travellers. So when it came time to decide where to finish our trip it seemed we only had one real option: we had to go to Lamu.

So where is Lamu and why were we compelled to go there? Lamu is an island on Kenya's northern coast, close to the Somali border. This tropical paradise has a reputation for being very laid-back and has supposedly attracted a following of chronic pot smokers and those looking to escape the trappings of the modern world. In our experience we encounter few "drop-outs" and rather witnessed what can only be described as in invasion of rich Europeans who have built inappropriately large beachfront houses in this sleepy island hideaway. Luckily there were few of these folks about as the real tourist season was still a month away. Lamu's main town is the aptly named Lamu town and this where all the real action happens. The whole island has a very different feel than the rest of Kenya, due in no small part to the Arabic origins of the residents. There had to be more than 20 mosques in this little town and the narrow, donkey-filled alleys, white-washed architecture, and ancient dhow boats in the harbour gave us the impression we had step back in time to ancient Persia.

We spent one night in Lamu and then we felt the need to moved away from the "hustle and bustle" of the big city. On advice of some friends we move into the first floor of a beautiful villa situated halfway between Lamu town the beach loacted next to Shela town.

Unfortunately, our plans to have a nice relaxing beach vacation after so much hiking were slightly spoilt by a rather nasty bout of suspected food poisoning. To be completely honest, we really have no idea what was wrong with our digestive tracts but the end result was that Barry and I were "not right" for several days. As was typical of this trip, Barry recovered sooner and never got a ill as I had. I was forced to eat a diet of nothing but fruits for several days while he gorged himself on all the seafood he could consume. Not to fear thought, I more then made up for lost time when I finally felt better. There could not have been a crab, lobster, or prawn left on that island when we flew home.