Easter in Lamu

It's been a long while since I've posted anything. I've gone from having endless amounts of time in the first few months, to having no time at all. But, I'm determined to slowly catch up and post pics from the last few months.

Just before things got really busy, we spent a few days at the coast in Lamu. Lamu is dreamland as far as I'm concerned. It's hot, exotic, relatively safe, and luxurious. A mixture of swahili and muslim/arab culture, with a touch of Portuguese, the place forces you to slow down and relax. The actual town of Lamu is fascinating: very colorful, dirty and busy. There are no cars on the entire island - the only means of transportation are donkeys on land or boats/dhows on the water. There are so many donkeys (and many seriously mistreated) that an English woman opened up a donkey hospital.

We didn't actually stay in Lamu Town, but a few km down the island in Shela, a smaller town right next to the beach and dunes. There you can rent entire houses including a cook for very reasonable. What a treat!! Thanks to our visitor from Germany, Reinhold, here are some pictures to share:

our house in Shela - the roof deck

Shela house, owned by a German who has great taste

strolling in Lamu Town

Dhows waiting to go out

Shela house

dining room in Shela house

relaxing on the roof deck

en-route to our Shela house from the airport

Hours of swimming, every day! The water was warmer that the air, and the air was a good 80F.

One of the many donkeys in Lamu....

Sailing on a dhow.

the amazing baobab trees - this one hundreds of years old.

Sascha caught her first fish!!!

Our collection of snappers. Admittedly our guides caught most of these. It was harder than expected to actually hook the fish. Maybe there is something to fishing.....

Delivering the freshly caught fish to our cook.

A Sunday around Nairobi

What do we do on the weekend around Nairobi? Here are some impressions from this past Sunday:

Getting a ride around the compound with our Italian neighbors on their motorcycle.

Pony Camp at the New Muthaiga stables with Lieselotte, a friend from school.

Backwards......?

Visiting favorite pony Alpha

A visit to the Kuona Trust, a collection of artist studios. They sometimes have festivals with local bands and other performances in their garden.

The gate itself is worth going for.....

One of the artist studios.

Relaxing at home in the garden

How do you transport things in Kenya?

I've been amazed at what people manage to carry with them, whether on their heads, bikes, pikipikis, donkey carts, trucks, matatus, or whatever other means they use to travel. Here's an ongoing gallery of my documentation:

Visiting a Maasai island village in Lake Bogoria

Desert Rose trees

Inside one of the huts where the Maasai cook and sleep.

Beds made out of dried mud, i.e. not soft at all. One bed is for husband and wife. The other is for the kids.

After an evening of cooking over an open fire, the hut is filled with smoke. The Maasai add special leaves to the fire and manage to keep the mosquitoes at bay with these methods. That's important because Malaria is rampant in these parts.

Building a new hut with mud and rocks.

A more modern hut in which the chickens go in and out.

The Bogoria area is known for its honey. The locals make wooden hives which they hang in trees. They are usually over a meter long. Read more about it here: Traditional beekeeping in Kenya

Village boys fishing

Using homemade boats that sink after a few hours. Made from plants that grow under water.

Another island where one man moved with his 3 wives and plentiful children.

The Desert Rose tree makes a good bee hive when hollowed out.