Jan. 23-Jan. 26, 2024:
With our bags all weighed and packed, we dropped off Tortellini, our mini schnauzer, with Momma Himm and G and I headed to the Sacramento airport for our two-week Kenya adventure.
We took off early Sunday morning On Jan 21. and after 22 hours of flying (Sacramento -> Atlanta -> Paris -> Nairobi), we landed in the evening of Jan. 22 in Nairobi. The travel agent we worked with for the trip arranged to have someone meet us as soon as we landed (super helpful) and they got us to the front of the customs line and connected with our transport to the Four Seasons Nairobi Airport Hotel, our digs for the evening (highly recommend if you ever are doing an overnight in Nairobi and need to stay by the airport, loved the rooftop infinity pool overlooking the Nairobi skyline!).
After waking up early on the 23rd, we had a bountiful complimentary breakfast at the Four Seasons before taking the shuttle to the main airport, most specifically the domestic flights area, to catch our flight to Lamu. We flew Jambo Jet in a quick hour and 20-minute flight where we landed in, well, let’s just say from here on out, I knew it would be an adventure!
The airport in Lamu is essentially a strip of asphalt and a very small indoor/outdoor building. Upon landing, you walk with your bags towards the ocean onto a long walkway into the water where all the boats come and back people up. G’s sister Irina met us along with someone arranged by our accommodations (Moon House – also highly recommend, will get to Moon House later though) to take us by boat to Shela Island Lamu. They loaded our bags into the wooden fisherman boat and we were off towards Shela!
The boat ride
took a little under 30 minutes and before long we were pulling up on the
beautiful white sandy beaches of Shela. The architecture was so cool and
unique, you could definitely see the different influences that make this
Swahili town so unique.
A quick bit about Lamu – Lamu is a stunning and very unique
little island located on the coast in the Indian Ocean in Northeast Africa. It
is the oldest and best-preserved example of a Swahili settlement in East Africa
and dates back to the 14th century and is a UNESCO World Heritage
Site. There are no cars on Lamu, but there are 6,000 donkeys (the main form of
transportation along with boats and the occasional motorbike). The island is
small and feels like you are stepping back in time with all the dhow boats,
fisherman, and the beautifully preserved architecture. We’d be staying on Shela
which is a small, very chill part of Lamu Island (there are also a bunch of
fancy hotels on Manda Island which is
just a short boat ride away, so close you can see it from Shela/Lamu Town). The
population and culture is largely Muslim so dressing more conservatively than
one typically might in such hot/humid weather is important. The island is
extremely safe with influences from Bantu, Arab, Persian, Portuguese, Omani,
and British all thanks to the vibrant and unique history of the island.
Upon arriving on Shela, we were greeted by Letizia, as well as a variety of fisherman, dozens of boats, folks just hanging out on the dock away from the heat, and two very nice men from Moon House who were there to help us with our bags. It was a short walk to Moon House (about 5 minutes from where we pulled up on shore). After passing a few Masai warriors selling goods and some small restaurants and shops, we arrived to the villa fortress that is “Moon House”. These big ornately carved wooden doors swung open (Lamu is famous for these doors) and revealed one of the most lush and beautiful gardens I’ve ever seen. As we were escorted to where we’d be staying, my mouth literally flew upon seeing the infinity pool overlooking the Indian Ocean.
While at Moon House, we were staying in the “Betty’s Suite” (Letizia and Murray’s villa with the pool, and Irina’s above) and “Mama Duktari” (G and my villa, at the top). Included in our stay at Moon Houses was 3 private villas stacked on top of each other, an amazing private chef and multiple “helpers” (servers, housecleaning, and support for booking boats, guides, massages, etc.) and the place looked like something I would see in an Instagram travel vlog. I loved the Swahili architecture, the incredible views, lush greenery, and the indoor/outdoor style with all the fresh breeze (at night they kindly did put up a mosquito net around the bed for us).
bed by day
Upon arrival, the first order of business was lots of hugs - especially for Murray as his health had taken a bit of a hit from the long flight and right before we left, they shared they weren’t sure if they were going to be able to stay due to him really not doing too well. Thankfully, the day we arrived Murray had started to feel better and they’d been able to find some medicine and fresh gauze for his TPN leaking. After quite a bit of celebration, we changed into our swimsuits, grabbed a Tusker (Kenya beer), and basically canon-balled into the pool.
A few hours later, we walked down to the dock and
were lucky enough to go on a sunset dhow ride (a must do if you’re in Lamu!).
The dhow is a traditional sailing vessel that was used primarily in the Indian
Ocean in Arabian and African coastal regions, they are still used in Lamu for
that purpose, but also for tourists like us! The sunset dhow ride was easily
one of my top 3 favorite experiences in Lamu (pro tip, bring your own alcohol
when you go. We brought a bottle of wine and it was so nice to sip as we
watched the sun set on the ocean with all the other dhows in the background).
After our dhow ride, we returned to Moon House where the
Chef had prepared a delicious fresh fish dinner with loads of veggies! (Upon
arrival, he asked what we’d like to eat and Letizia and Murray asked for a
different fresh fish for lunch and dinner every night, fresh veggies, etc. For
breakfast there was lots of fresh fruit, eggs, fresh French press coffee, a
different fresh squeezed juice every day – we did not go hungry. The food was
amazing – over the 3 days we were there we had everything from fresh grilled
calamari, red snapper, white snapper, fresh passion fruit, papaya, mango, fresh
watermelon and ginger juice, rand a whole bunch more!). Moon Houses also do
turndown service so after dinner, our mosquito net was beautifully put out
around our bed, all the wooden shutters closed on the windows, and fresh water
laid out by our beds and the bathroom sinks (drinking the water in Kenya is not
safe for travelers but everywhere we stayed always had lots of drinkable water
readily available for us to drink and brush our teeth with).
On our second day in Lamu, we arranged through Moon House to
take a dhow out for the day that would include lunch. This would be another of
my top 3 Lamu experiences! As we walked to the dock with our packed beer/wine,
we waited for a single file line of about 20 donkeys to pass before loading
onto the dhow (the same crew as the night before – a captain, a cook, and the
translator/business manager). It was a super windy day which was perfect to
combat the hot weather and move the dhow fairly easily across the Indian Ocean.
Our guide shared with us a bit about the unique relationship with Lamu and
Mandu island (Mandu has no fresh water, Lamu lacks building supplies so they
work together to provide for one another), as well as what growing up here is
like. They caught us a fish, then cleaned it and cooked it on a charcoal grill right
on the boat (along with some fresh cut u veggies for a salad and chapatis made
the night before by one of their wives). I don’t know if it was the freshness of the
fish, the curry-rub and charcoal grill and seawater, the experience of seeing a
fish caught/cleaned/cooked and getting to eat it on a dhow on the Indian Ocean,
or all of it together – but it was some of the best fish I’ve ever eaten.
After the all-day boat ride, we enjoyed some more dips in
the villa pool before eating more delicious fish for lunch and lathering
ourselves in aloe vera (while we all tried to be pretty diligent with hats and
sunscreen on the boat, Irina and I still walked away getting a bit burnt!). That
night, we slept really well.
The next day was our final full day in Lamu so we arranged
through Moon House to head to Lamu Old Town with a guide to show us around
(Lamu Town has incredibly small windy streets without any street names so
having a local guide is very important as you’d otherwise get completely
lost!). Our guide, Abdul, was wonderful and met us at the dock in Shela for our
boat ride over. After our very quick ride from Shela to Old Lamu Town, we
stepped ashore beautiful Old Town and were immediately greeted by (quite literally)
hundreds of donkeys (along with lots of donkey poop, something simply
unavoidable with so many donkeys). When Murray went to get some money from the
ATM, he put his card in the power went out (in Lamu, the electricity is very
hit or miss. Some day swe had ice, other days we didn’t because the night
before had an electricity blackout… “pole pole” or “hakuna matata” as they say,
we were on island time now). Thankfully Murray got his card out and the atm
next door was on a generator and worked.
Walking around Old Town Lamu, Abdul explained to us the
sitting areas built into doorways of the coral stone homes (we took refuge in one ourselves to escape
the heat). He also took us to see how the famous Lamu doors are made, to a wood
workshop, the donkey sanctuary, the market, and a tour through the Lamu history
museum. Along the way, we took the opportunity to stop by a man on the street
who was hacking the tops of fresh coconuts and each enjoyed some fresh coconut
water. Seeing Old Town Lamu was very cool, but it was also heinously hot and
humid (without any wind) and the donkey poop was a little aggressive so I was
quite happy to have seen it and then to take our little boat back to Shela.
After some lunch and a soak in the pool, that afternoon, with help from Moon House, some local masseuses came to us and gave us the most amazing full body massages ever (for $30 each). This was for sure in my Lamu top 3 (like the fish on the boat, I am also still dreaming of that massage!). It’s a good thing they came on our last full day because otherwise, I would’ve definitely wanted a massage every day! Highly recommend!
The next day we
packed up, soaked in the last of the scenic views and wonderful fresh fruit and
fish, did some quick souvenir shopping with the Massai warrior traders, stopped
at the famous Peponi for a drink
(this place is also worth a visit!), and hopped on our little boat with our
luggage to the airstrip.
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Overall, I really liked Lamu. It was like nothing I’ve ever
experienced or seen before and definitely not what I would’ve envisioned when I
was asked if I wanted to join the Kornberg family on their trip to Africa! I
was also surprised by how safe I felt (especially given the travel advisory to
US and UK tourists to not go to Lamu, though now I understand that means Lamu
County, where you get to by car, vs. Lamu island where you arrive by airplane
and boat). The people were all so incredibly friendly, warm, and kind – and
without cars on the island and all the old school dhow boats and fishermen and
Swahili architecture, it really did feel like you were stepping back in time.
Also, staying at Moon House was an experience in itself. That being said,
having been there and experienced it and the humidity, there are definitely
some different choices I would’ve made with how I packed!
Things I’m glad I packed
- 3 swimsuits (while I only really needed 2, it was nice to have at least 1 really conservative swimsuit for the dhow rides along with some less frumpy ones for our private pool.)
- 2 swimsuit cover-ups (including one more conservative one that doubled as a dress I could wear on the boat)
- Leather Birkenstocks and Eva plastic Birkenstocks (these were the only two pairs of shoes I wore while in Lamu)
- A variety of sun hats – I brought a roll-up visor, a safari sun hat, and a spf quick-dry baseball cap. Between G and I, we wore the sun hat and baseball cap every day in Lamu and on Safari.
- Aloe vera, chapstick with spf, and a ton of tiny travel-sized sunscreens
- Suitcase lock (the staff was incredibly trustworthy but it made us feel more confident leaving behind our passports, etc.)
- Plug converters and a portable cell phone battery pack
- Cooling neck scarf (I know this sounds extra but it was seriously so hot/humid walking around!)
- Really light-weight quick dry board shorts (I actually didn’t pack these specifically but I had a pair of those lightweight safari pants that zip off to become shorts and ended up wearing these one of the days in Lamu and they were a lifesaver!)
- Sunglasses
Stuff I didn’t use/need
- I packed a travel-sized dual-voltage blow dryer and curling iron and it was way too hot and humid to use it (no air conditioning)
- A travel clothes steamer (in hindsight, I don’t know why I thought I’d be using this)
- Make-up (again, way too hot)
- A shawl and light-weight sweater for the “cooler” evenings (definitely not needed!)
and things I wish I would’ve packed:
- a battery operated or usb charging mini-fan that fits into my purse
- a small portable Bluetooth music player (it would’ve been especially nice on the boat!)
- Some sort of kikoi or sarong for the pool
- Different “day clothes”. (I underestimated the humidity and even things like my gauzy cotton white beach pants were really uncomfortably hot and heavy. Keeping in mind that you want to avoid short shorts and spaghetti straps, if I were packing for Lamu again, I would probably just pack 2-3 really lightweight breathable cotton very short-sleeved mid-length kaftans and call it a day.)
From Lamu, we would fly to and spend a night in Nairobi
before getting on a tiny flight to head to Masai Marra (also called Maasai
Mara) to officially start our safari adventure!
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