This tour combines Kenya's twin attractions- the safari and beach experience. You begin your safari experience at Tsavo West, home to elephants, crocodiles, vervet monkeys, antelope, baboons, giraffes, hippos and lions. The park is a marvel in terms of geo-physical character and plant diversity. You end up at Mombasa enjoying activities at the beach and the leisurely pace of life at the Kenyan coast. The city is a cosmopolitan metropolis reflecting the influence of Africans, Persians, Arabs, Turks, Indians, Portuguese and the British
You will enjoy and experience nature, wildlife, habit and habitat of the fauna and flora in the natural areas, also peoples and culture. Availability 90%
Minimum Rate Per Adult: US$
Departing From: Lamu
Duration: 4 Days / 5 Nights
Departure Time: 0830 Hrs (possible to leave earlier than)
Departures: Daily
Minimum Persons Required: 2
Best Time: All the year round
Lamu Beach Safaris - Lamu Beach Holidays
Medieval Lamu is Kenya’s oldest inhabited stone town. Part of the Lamu Archipelago, Lamu has white, sandy beaches, historical sites and superb seafood. The narrow streets are full of unhurried locals and donkey carts with a smattering of curious travelers.
Lamu Beach Safaris - Lamu Beach holidays - Lamu Air Safaris & Flying Package
Lamu Safari Itinerary
Day 1. Lamu.
Fly to Manda Island. A few minutes by boat takes you to Lamu Hotel for
accommodation. Half board accommodation at Island Hotel.
Day 2. Lamu.
Full day to relax, explore and shopping. Overnight at Island Hotel or
similar.
Full day to relax, explore and shopping. Overnight at Island Hotel or similar.
East Africa is home to
some of the best beaches in the world and Kenya and Tanzania have over
1,500 kilometers of beautiful whitesands between them. The renowned
islands of Mombasa, Lamu, Zanzibar and Pemba are all to be found along
this strip and these are excellent beach holiday destinations. Some of
the beach safaris available
THE NORTH COAST OF KENYA AND LAMU ISLAND
DAY ONE: NORTH COAST
Morning flight to Mombasa. Transfer to Serena Beach Hotel after a tour
of the city of Mombasa and lunch. Dinner and overnight at this first
class beach hotel.
Sunset at the coast
DAY TWO TO DAY FIVE: NORTH COAST
At leisure either relaxing by the beach, engaged in watersports or
exploring the nearby nature trails and historic ruins.
DAY SIX: LAMU
Afternoon flight to Lamu after a lunch cruise on the Tamarind Dhow.
Dinner and overnight at a Lamu Hotel.
DAY SEVEN TO DAY NINE: LAMU
The day is spent at leisure. Accommodation in Lamu is on full board
basis.
DAY TEN: NAIROBI
Morning flight to Nairobi. Transfer to your hotel. Evening dinner at the
Carnivore Restaurant before proceeding to the airport for your flight
back home.
A hammock at the beach in kenya
KIWAYU ISLAND PARADISE.
Perched north of Lamu is this lovely and idyllic Island very far from
the madding crowd. The clientele is the smart set who like the rustic
look of the Kiwayu's few bandas but also like the unobstructive luxury
they offer as well. Enjoy the proximity of nature in this northern Lamu
archipelago. The "Baobabs of Kitangani" nestling between the enormous
ageless baobabs, almost invisible from the beach create a dream for the
traveler expecting a perfect setting and total privacy.
Day 1: Nairobi - Kiwayu
Fly to Kiwayu from Nairobi - a 2 hours trip - using an 8, 16 or 24
seater aircraft. Dinner and overnight at Kiwayu Safari Village.
Day 2: Kiwayu Safari Village.
Day at leisure enjoying activities which includes: -
Windsurfing, Goggling, Mangrove trips, Dhow sailing, Water skiing and
Laser sailing. All meals and another overnight stay are at the luxury
resort.
Day 3: Kiwayu - Nairobi
Depart Kiwayu Safari Village for the airstrip for your flight to
Nairobi.
LAMU ISLAND ADVENTURES
The island of lamu
Some 200 kilometers North of Malindi lies a haven from civilization.
Lamu Island is a unique medieval Swahili town with no roads or vehicles.
Its streets are designed wide enough to allow only the passage of camels
and donkeys. On a shopping spree there are carvings, brass & gold, Arab
sea chests and lots of intriguing artifacts, not forgetting a visit to
the interesting museum.
Day 1: Nairobi - Lamu.
Fly to Manda Island. A few minutes by boat takes you to Shela Beach on
Lamu Island where you will be residing for the next two days. You are
booked on half board accommodation at The Island Hotel.
Day 2. Lamu
Full day to relax, explore and shopping. Overnight at Island Hotel or
similar.
Day 3. Nairobi - Lamu
Return to Manda Island for your flight back to Nairobi.
The Exotic
Island of
Lamu
Cast into the Indian Ocean off the coast of Kenya, the island and town
of Lamu is heir to a distinctive
tradition over a thousand years old. The Swahili culture and style of
Lamu are a mix of East African, Omani,
Yemeni, Indian, and some Portuguese and Victorian influences. Of all the
old Swahili towns of East Africa, Lamu
is one of the very few remaining substantially intact.
Lamu is enchanting. As Kenya's oldest
living town it has retained all the charm and character built up over
centuries. There are no cars so donkeys are the main means of transport.
Children play in the narrow streets, Muslim men chat on street corners
and women in their black buibui eils busy themselves through doorways.
Most houses have a rooftop which is used as a patio - indicative of a
society where ‘hanging back’ and ‘catching the breeze’ is important.
Keep an eye out for the intricately carved wooden doors and lintels for
which the island is famous. The island has a long history and by the
1500s it was a thriving port, exporting timber, ivory, amber, spices and
slaves.
When the Portuguese arrived, it surrendered without a murmur and in the
mid-1800s it became a subject of the Sultanate of Zanzibar, which
nominally controlled the whole coastal strip until Kenya became
independent in 1963.
Until the 19th century dawned, Lamu's economy was hinged on slave labour
and with the abolition of slavery it declined rapidly. That is until the
advent of tourists. In the 1960s Lamu
was up there with Katmandu as a hippy hangout and it has since been
under siege by tourists. There are two banks, a post office and a book
shop, the Lamu Book Centre, which
sells local newspapers and international news magazines.
Lamu also has world class hotel touts,
who have the persistence of insurance salesmen, so be polite but firm in
declining. Lamu is strictly Islamic,
so be sensitive in the way you dress. The best way to get to
Lamu is to fly. Otherwise the road to
Lamu is rough and while there are
buses, the journey is tedious.
As Kenya’s oldest living town, Lamu
has a rich and colorful history. The town was one of the original string
of Swahili settlements that stretched from Somalia to Mozambique. It
remained a thriving port town through the turbulent Portuguese invasions
and later the Omani domination of the 17th century.
Lamu had a slave-based economy until
the turn of the 20th century. When slavery was abolished in 1907 the
economy of the island suffered greatly. Only recently has the influx of
tourist dollars revitalized the town’s growth.
Lamu appears to be a region almost
frozen in time. The physical appearance and the character of the town
have changed very little over the centuries. The narrow, winding streets
accommodate only pedestrian or donkey traffic. The population of
Lamu remains almost exclusively
Muslim. Men still wear full length robes known as khanzus with kofia
caps while women cover themselves in the black wraparound cloth common
in other Islamic cultures. In the early 1970s,
Lamu became famous for its reputation
as an exotic, remote, and self-contained society. It became a spiritual
center of sorts for hippies and other non-conformists drawn to its
undisturbed traditional culture. Some people feel that
Lamu’s popularity and increased
tourism will ultimately undermine the unique value system and culture of
this Swahili settlement. Others argue, however, that without the tourist
industry Lamu will suffer and
stagnate.
There are numerous sights in and around Lamu
worth exploring. The architecture of the houses and buildings is
especially unique. Most buildings date back to the 18th century or
before and are constructed out of local materials including coral-rag
blocks for the walls, wooden floors supported by mangrove poles, makuti
roofs, and intricately carved shutters for windows. The villages of
Shela and Matondoni, Lamu Fort, the
Swahili House Museum, and the Donkey Sanctuary should also be included
on every traveler’s itinerary.
Lamu is a Swahili town resulting from
a combination of trade and Islam, modified by the environment. Trade
provided wealth, Islam the incentive for permanent settlements reflected
in the requirement of Islamic canon law that Friday noon prayer be held
in a permanently settled location. The monsoon winds supplied the energy
the ships needed and the building materials, coral and mangrove were
available on the shores.
The streets of Lamu are narrow, cool
and quiet. They are surprisingly intimate spaces enclosed by massive
stone buildings whose thick coral rag walls give the town its distinct
colour and texture.
Lamu, Town, Island and Archipelago,
all of the same name, lie 2 degrees below the Equator along Kenya's
coast. The archipelago is a chain of Islands separated from the mainland
by a narrow channel bordered with dense mangrove forest and protected
from the Indian Ocean by coral reefs and large sand dunes. The many
historical sites are proof of the area's long and rich history which,
when combined with all the natural attraction of its tropical setting,
make Lamu a wonderful place to visit.
Any tour of Lamu is best begun at the
Lamu Museum which provides an
excellent introduction to the town and the region, both past and
present. The exhibits include the material culture of the archipelago,
ethnographic tableaux of neighboring coastal peoples, as well as
collection of maritime artifacts and model dhows. After this orientation
you are ready to amble through the streets, set sail for nearby ruins,
or just go fishing.
Lamu is a traditional Islamic
community, with over 20 active mosques in the town and most women veiled
in public. Visitors are welcome, but are asked to observe and respect
local custom. The naturally protected harbour on its northeast side led
to the founding of Lamu Town which
became a centre of coastal commerce. Today, Lamu's economy is still
dominated by maritime activities: shipping, fishing mangrove cutting and
shipbuilding.
The people of Lamu are devout
followers of Islam and the town is a place of religious pilgrimage where
Muslims from all over eastern Africa gather every year to celebrate
Maulidi, the Prophet's birthday. Lamu
is remote even by Kenyan standards.
A thousand years of trade, settlement and Islamic expansion have left
ruins up and down the East African coast. In the 2nd century, the Greeks
knew of this coast and called it Azania. Later, in the 9th and 10th
centuries Arab and Persian traders and settlers called it Bilad-al-Zenj.
Their small settlements grew into fiercely independent city-states which
brought forth a distinct Arab-African culture called Swahili.
The buildings in Lamu's historical core date from the 18th century,
though both folklore and archaeological evidence point to an older
settlement just south and possibly also north of today's town. In
December 2001 Lamu Town became a world
heritage site in order to protect the oldest inhabited settlement south
of the Sahara.
KIWAYU ISLAND
A few years back this remote island at the northern end of the
Lamu archipelago gained a reputation
as a retreat for the rich and famous. It boasts an idyllic
beach, fabulous snorkeling on the
coral reefs and peace and quiet. On the mainland across from the island
is the Kiwayu Safari Lodge which is considered to be one of the world’s
top hotels. On the island is the more modestly priced Munira Safari
Lodge and both hotels will organize transfers by plane from Mombasa,
Malindi or Lamu, or motorboat from
Lamu.
And if you tire of beaches and watersports, the lodges can organize game
viewing safaris to Boni and Dodori
game reserves. Wildlife that you don't want to get too close to is the
mosquito – the island is renowned for this pesky insect, so take your
repellent and anti malarial drugs.
