| Lamu Kenya Walking Town Tour | | | | house museum. Once you've had your fill of domestic |
| The best, indeed the only, way to see Lamu is on | | | | insights, take any route back towards the main |
| foot. Few experiences compare with exploring the | | | | street-if you can-if you can hit the road leading |
| far back streets, where you can wander unnoticed | | | | towards Matondoni, you'll pass a particularly elaborate |
| amid wafts of cardamom and carbolic and watch the | | | | original carved door in the Arabic style. |
| town's agile cats scaling the vertical coral walls. This | | | | Once you've hit the main square and the fort, take a |
| tour will take you past some of the more | | | | right to see the crumbled remains of the 14th |
| noteworthy buildings in under an hour, but don't feel | | | | century Pwani mosque one of Lamu's oldest buildings; |
| bound to follow it too rigidly. In fact, getting slightly | | | | an Arabic inscription is still visible on the wall. From |
| lost is a vital part of the process, and I downright | | | | here you can head round and browse the covered |
| insist that you tackle as many detours and | | | | market, then negotiate your way towards the bright |
| digressions as possible! | | | | Saudi funded Riyadha Mosque, the centre of Lamu's |
| Most of Lamu's buildings date back to the 18th | | | | religious scene, founded by the great scholar Habib |
| century and are constructed out of local materials, | | | | Swaleh in 1891. |
| with cut coral-rag blocks for the walls, wooden floors | | | | From here you can take as long or as short a route |
| supported by mangrove poles and intricately carved | | | | as you like back to the water front, this end of town |
| shutters for windows. Lavish decorations were | | | | is a little shabbier, but it has just as much life as the |
| created using carved plaster, and carpenters were | | | | northern part. Then stroll back up along the |
| employed to produce ornately carved window and | | | | promenade, diverting for the German post office |
| door frames as a sign of the financial status of the | | | | museum if you haven't already seen it-the door is |
| owners. | | | | another amazing example of Swahili carving. |
| There are so many wonderful Swahili houses that it's | | | | If you're feeling the pace, take a rest and shoot the |
| pointless for me to recommend specific | | | | breeze on the baraza ya wazee (old men's bench) |
| examples-keep your eyes open wherever you go, | | | | outside the appealing stucco minarets of the |
| and don't forget to look up. | | | | Shiaithna-Asheri Mosque. Benches of this kind were a |
| Starting from the main jetty, head north past the | | | | crucial feature of any Swahili home, providing an |
| Lamu museum and along the waterfront until you | | | | informal social setting for men to discuss the issues |
| reach the door carving workshops. In recent years, | | | | of the day, and this newly inaugurated seat is already |
| there has been a revival in wood carving and you can | | | | well used by Lamu's loquacious elders. |
| once again see traditional carved lintel and doors | | | | Carrying on up Harambee Ave will bring you back to |
| being made in workshops like these all over Lamu. | | | | the main jetty and the end of our tour. I suggest |
| From here head onto Kenyatta Rd, passing an original | | | | you celebrate a hard day's walk with a large juice at |
| Swahili well, and into the alleys towards the Swahili | | | | one of the sea front restaurants! |