It's Wamũyũ.: I finally went to Lamu

Lamu had been one of the places that I had always wanted to visit.

So, towards the end of July I did that. I had travelled to Mombasa on a short project that required collecting of data on Road accidents in Kenya.

This involved visiting Coast Provincial General Hospital and the Traffic department of the Kenya Police, going through records searching for the right information.

Anyhow, I finished my data collection exercise, spared a few days and travelled to Lamu Island together with the lovely Jimmy Daze.

We took the night bus, which left Mombasa at around 9.30 pm (Tahmeed Bus Company), the charges were KES 800 per person. The road is pretty good, meaning its tarmac until you get to Garsen town where the road is murram. We arrived at Mokowe the mainland at around 5.00 am. Here, we boarded a passenger’s boat that took us to Lamu Island. The boat ride was 30mins and the cost was KES 100 per person.

It’s advisable to book accommodation in advance so that you can have someone pick you up when you get there. Jimmy Daze had organized that: Arnold (amazing guy) picked us, he who owns Jambohouse where we stayed. We settled in and rested our tired bodies in anticipation of lovely times in Lamu.

Most of the days were spent swimming at Shela Beach and enjoying the Swahili foods such as pilau, biriani with the Tamarind sauce at the Olympic Restaurant. The fresh juices and smoothies are excellent.

Visiting the Lamu museum, shopping and visiting the many shops along the narrow streets. We made a few friends as well.

Arnold organized a boat ride to Manda Island. I recommend anyone visiting Lamu should sail to Manda Island. We set off at about 10 am; we were joined by two Japanese ladies who were touring East African countries.
We sailed through the mangroves forest, enjoying the fresh air and the amazing ocean views. We swam for about an hour as the captain of the boat and his team prepared us lunch, which I must say was delicious (Tamarind fish, vegetable curry and coconut rice).

The tides were low when we approached Manda, that meant we had to walk through shallow ocean waters to get to the Island.

While at Manda we visited Takwa National Monument managed by the National Museums of Kenya, there was no much to see, just ancient ruins.
I loved their toilet facility. The ocean view from Takwa is breathtaking.... I loved it!