{"id":107,"date":"2019-01-22T08:28:13","date_gmt":"2019-01-22T05:28:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nairobicarrentalservices.com\/blog\/?p=107"},"modified":"2022-02-23T16:12:11","modified_gmt":"2022-02-23T13:12:11","slug":"all-about-lamu-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nairobicarrentalservices.com\/blog\/all-about-lamu-island.html","title":{"rendered":"All You Need To Know About Lamu Island Before You Visit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Lamu Island<\/strong> is situated in the northern part of Kenya as a UNESCO World Heritage Site consisting of one town and three villages with a ferry ride from Mokowe connecting to island where people use donkeys as cars since other motorized vehicles cannot be found on the island and it is part of the Lamu Archipelago of Kenya as a beautiful place of rolling dunes and endless beaches, where tiny villages nestle amidst coconut and mango plantations and lateen-sailed dhows ply the waters including dense mangrove forests fringing the mainland and the inland areas of the island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This spot makes for an exotic beach holiday with\ncenturies-old Swahili settlements, no vehicles or roads, and a few exclusive villas\non its pristine beaches with Shela Beach about 12km long stretching on the\nisland with beach-front guesthouses&nbsp;and villas for travelers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brief\nhistory of Lamu Island<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lamu Island is part of the ancient Arab trade route with Arabic influences seen throughout the island established port by the Arab traders and it has been in existence for over one thousand years hosting several explorers including the Chinese fleet of Zheng He which reportedly sunk near the island and eventually the survivors settled on the island and it had influences from Portuguese explorers, Turkish traders, and the Omani Arabs. Lamu Town is Kenya\u2019s oldest living town and is a <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/UNESCO_World_Heritage_Site\" title=\"UNESCO World Heritage Site\">UNESCO World Heritage Site<\/a> <\/strong>still possessing the original Swahili settlements hence it preserved the Swahili architecture with the majority of the people mainly being Muslims but the general population but with a diverse ethnicity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Lamu Island\nattractions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Lamu Museum<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The best museum is located in town housed\nin a grand Swahili warehouse on the waterfront and it is regarded as the second\nbest in Kenya making it a good gateway as you\u2019ll get into Swahili culture and\nthat of the archipelago as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Lamu Fort<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>This squat castle was built by the\nSultan of Pat\u00e9 between 1810 and 1823 and it was used as a prison from 1910\nright up to 1984 but it currently houses the island\u2019s library, which holds one\nof the best collections of Swahili poetry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>German Post Office Museum<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Set up by the German East Africa\nCompany, the Germans regarded Lamu as an ideal base from which to exploit the\ninterior in the 18<sup>th<\/sup> century, before the British colonial government\ntook control hence German expansion into Tanganyika, the present day Tanzania.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Donkey Sanctuary<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>This sanctuary has around 3000 donkeys\navailable for the visitors on daily basis since there are no motor rides and\nbicycles here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Shela Beach<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Most people are here for the beach\nholidays on a 12km-long, wide sweep of pristine white sand perfectly great for\nSwimming, sun bathing and beach football among other activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Matondoni<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>This is the best place strategically\nlocated for you to see dhows being built northwest of the Island with a\npeaceful fishing village that receives few visitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Lamu Market<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Although it is a bit noisy, this\ntraditional Lamu market is best visited early in the morning as you can bargain\nfor fresh tuna and sailfish; wade through alleys teeming with stray cats and\ngoats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Getting to\nLamu Island<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Visitors can reach the island by boat from the mainland or fly into neighboring Manda Island\u2019s airport before crossing with the ferry. Reaching the Island by road is not possible but if you would like to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nairobicarrentalservices.com\/hire-locations\/lamu.html\">rent a car in Lamu<\/a> and drive around , we at <strong>Nairobi Car Rental Services<\/strong> will be more than happy to organize a car plus proffessional local driver to take you around this magnificent Kenya island. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you are considering visiting the Lamu Island, simply call us today on +<strong>254-713510387 <\/strong>or send us an email to<strong> <\/strong><a href=\"mailto:info@nairobicarrentalservices.com\">info@nairobicarrentalservices.com<\/a> and speak with the reservations team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lamu Island is situated in the northern part of Kenya as a UNESCO World Heritage Site consisting of one town and three villages with a ferry ride from Mokowe connecting to island where people use donkeys as cars since other motorized vehicles cannot be found on the island and it is part of the Lamu&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":108,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nairobicarrentalservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nairobicarrentalservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nairobicarrentalservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nairobicarrentalservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nairobicarrentalservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nairobicarrentalservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":392,"href":"https:\/\/www.nairobicarrentalservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107\/revisions\/392"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nairobicarrentalservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nairobicarrentalservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nairobicarrentalservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nairobicarrentalservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}