Life's a Beach!

We departed for Lamu on Sept 28th. After an hour and a half flight we landed at the manda bay airport, which consists of 2 huts: on one side arrivals and duty free, on the other departures. Baggage claim was an outdoor table on the dirt. We were greeted by our cook, who took us on a dhow (old school boat) across the bay to Lamu.


Lamu is an ancient Muslim town. The buildings are literally stacked together with small alleyways to pass between. The only mode of transportation on the island is donkey, and they do a ton of work carrying up to 200kg on their backs! We fully were able to appreciate their title 'beasts of burden.' The only downfall was donkey poop everywhere which gave the city an aroma of its own.

Since Lamu is a Muslim town the majority of its residents adhere to the schedule of prayer. This means the city shuts down during prayer time which occurs 5 times a day. The prayers are announced over loud speaker which can be heard throughout the island.

We rented a house, for $60 a night including our own personal chef. It was incredible! It was the true meaning of open concept with only 2 enclosed rooms and all other rooms open to the outside. It was 3 storeys and included a rooftop patio where we spent most of our nights, staring at the stars. The house was furnished with hand crafted wooden furniture and the doors were hand carved, Lamu style. Our cook treated us like royalty. We ate baracuda, the largest crab we've ever seen, and lobster. He made a coconut peanut sauce that we really can write home about. YUM.

Part of us never wanted to leave home, until we got a glimpse of the beautiful beaches of the neihbouring towns, Shella and Manda. Our first full day there, we rented a dhow with captain and toured the area. We visited ruins nearby and ended up on Manda beach. Literally, we had the beach to ourselves. Because Manda is full of private residences the flow of visiters is seasonal and no-one was there! The water was breathtaking, bright green and the temperature of a warm bath. We couldn't get out of the water.

After a taste of the beach, we decided to spend the next day exploring Shella beach. We walked there, a 45 minute trek in blazing sun. The outcome was completely worthwhile. Again, we had the beach to ourselves. We swam and were sun kissed (Aliyah and Michelle are now browner and Sarah is still white with a tint of pink!)

After having such a packed schedule before this little getaway it was nice having some down time. Island life was good to us. Hakuna Matata!!

We relutantly said goodbye to Lamu but the animals were eagerly awaiting our arrival at Masai Mara.