Paradise Found

Update, my computer have been fixed and here are my pictures. 

Lamu is not Kenyan. It does not feel like what I have come to know as Kenyan. It is Arabic, dropped here by the sultans of Oman who built the town's wealth on the slave trade. After the practice was banned in 1873, Lamu lay forgotten for 100 years, retaining its narrow, car-free streets, open drains, un-motorized dhows and its large herd of donkeys, one ass for every ten people. Its whitewashed buildings with elaborate doors and doorways, over-street extensions and tunnels give the town a labyrinthian feel, combined with some traditions from old Arabia and filled with darker skinned Kenyans. Calls of Allah Alkar, God is great, are heard over the Jambo's (hello) and Karibou's (you are welcome).

It was only in the 1970's when Lamu fell onto an adventurous tourist's map. Slowly, it became better known beyond backpacking circles as wealthier expats began to buy up old Swahili houses in town and in the smaller, beachfront town of Shela, a few miles north of Lamu town. 60% of the old homes in Lamu are owned by expats. In the past five years, the number of ATM's have tripled, from one to three. Outside of my hotel, I have seen perhaps a dozen mizungos so fortunately, the place is not overrun by tourists. The fact that it is less than 50 miles from Somalia also keeps the less adventurous away .Two kidnappings and a murder in 2011 reminded the region of this and depressed housing prices for both expats and locals.

Nicole thinks this place will soon be overrun by tourists and development. Along the poorly paved and then completely dirt road, I saw true poverty, not just some kid asking for money on the street, but mud homes, tiny plots of crops, water jugs outside (signalling lack of water at home), and power lines running through people's yards without any line leading to their homes. That says something should be done for the people of this region. People were not as poor further down the coast in the tourists towns such as Malindi. In the next bay over from Lamu, there is an ambitious scheme to build a new deepwater port, complete with railways, pipelines and roads linking it not just to Nairobi but Uganda, South Sudan and Ethiopia, all funded by China. It would be Kenya's second port as Mombasa is supposedly congested. As the years drag on, the project's infeasibility becomes more apparent, especially with Mombasa not fully built out as a port. My walking tour guide suggested that it would happen within a century. But something needs to happen in this region because while people in Lamu and its surrounding villages appear relatively stable, the people in the surrounding countryside and inland are very poor.

No pictures yet, my computer's power cord died and photos are trapped on my camera.
Update, my computer have been fixed and here are my pictures.