Dhow

‘Everything you need you can get it here’, said the boda-boda driver as I rode on his motorbike along the coastal path to Lamu Town. I’m not sure this is technically true, for example if you needed clothes to dry in less humid air, or some female empowerment. But he’s right in that Lamu is uniquely interesting and relaxing. The motorbikes that ferry people between the two main villages are an addition in recent years and other residents (especially boat owners who used to transport people along the route) do not seem happy that the motorbikes are polluting Lamu’s image of being vehicle-free (and using this angle to mask their true beef at having competition).

I was going into Gugs’s project partner’s office to work from there whilst she had a meeting, which meant we had to navigate some of the narrow convoluted alleyways in the old town.

After work we seized on the hour before sunset to do a dhow ride from Shela, around the neighbouring island of Manda and the mangrove channels. It was delightful, even when we were briefly rained on.