Isle’s Swahili Culture Preserved

LAMU, Kenya — In a remote archipelago off the East African coast, this island, with a city of the same name, zealously guards its centuries-old Swahili culture.

Autos are banned. Men in flowing robes, women behind black veils and heavy-laden donkeys still dominate narrow labyrinthine streets. Bathwater meanders through ancient gutters to the sea.

Wailing calls to prayer from 22 mosques echo off terraced-roof patios, courtyards and alcoves of 18th-Century coral-stone buildings, then dissipate offshore in the gentle gusts of the Indian Ocean.

Fishermen navigate by the stars in the same kind of dhow (sailing vessels) that brought their ancestors here from Arabia, India and Persia generations ago.

The tropical island of Lamu, two degrees south of the Equator, is a vital living museum and a hideaway beach haven.

At one end of the island waves crash on miles of deserted coastline, while in town crowded avenues pulse with traditions of yesterday.

Ever since ancient times, when the region earned a write-up in a 2nd-Century Greek mariners’ handbook, the East African coast has been a trading hub and melting pot.

Evolving Culture

Arabian traders sailed the northeast monsoons, bringing salt, metal goods and their Islamic religion to coastal Africans, who sold ivory, tortoise shells and slaves.

The hybrid Swahili culture and language evolved over hundreds of years as a succession of city-states, monarchies and dynasties threw together Africans, Arabians, Indians and, later, Portuguese into coastal communities that had little contact with inland tribes.

By the 1700s the town of Lamu was a prosperous port, a flourishing urban center and birthplace of Swahili art, culture and architecture.

During Lamu’s golden age, craftsmen created ornate plaster friezes and richly patterned wooden doors for town houses graced with garden courtyards and hot and cold running water.

Noblemen sported locally woven gold and silver cloth, while young artists performed original poems in streets and coffeehouses.

Rhythm of Religion

The street poets and noblemen are gone but the town still bustles with a close-knit street life that ebbs and flows with the Islamic worship schedule.

When evening prayers let out, shopkeepers and artisans reopen workplaces as youngsters resume hide-and-seek games down winding passageways and Islamic elders confer on streetside benches.

To explore Lamu’s seductive maze of streets, mosques and carved doors, start on Usita wa Mui, the main avenue that runs parallel to the waterfront.

The Jumaa or Friday Mosque at the northern end of the street is one of the oldest (built in 1511) and most established of Lamu’s numerous Islamic temples.

The southern end of the avenue opens onto the town square, flanked by a massive fort built in 1821, but most recently used as a prison. It is closed for restoration, but tours can be arranged through the Lamu Museum.

Crowded inland and uphill from the Usita wa Mui are the 200-year-old buildings of the old town, described by one writer as “almost Cubist architecture.”

Three-foot-thick windowless walls and facades turn corners, rise, fall and disappear at odd angles, hiding airy courtyards.

Mohammed’s Birthday

Up the hill and south of the fort, the Riyadha Mosque attracts thousands of East African pilgrims each year who celebrate Mohammed’s birthday with a week of drumming, singing and dancing.

The Maulidi festival, transposed from the Islamic calendar to the Western calendar, advances 11 days each year. In 1987 it began Nov. 1; this year it’s set for Oct. 21.

Farther up the hill one of the oldest Islamic pillar tombs and the only national monument of Lamu Island marks the outskirts of town.

Over the crest of the hill, past huts of mud and thatch, the urban landscape turns pastoral. Groves of mango and palm trees dot the countryside where peasants work the land and wealthy city families maintain second homes.

Back in town, shoppers on Usita wa Mui haggle over prices of carved chests, inlaid furniture, brightly colored wraparound kanga skirts and jewelry.

Cannons Stand Ready

Along the waterfront, where 19th-Century European-influenced buildings feature verandas and balconies, antique cannons stand at the ready, as if to repel intrusions of modern life.

Lamu’s Swahili inhabitants--who since the 1500s have survived invasion by the Portuguese, domination by arch-rival Pate Island and occupation by the sultan of Oman--are determined to resist commercial forces that have transformed Kenya’s southern coast into a string of posh resort hotels, says Sheikh Ahmed Badawy, Lamu’s education officer.

In a country proud of its Tusker beer, Islamic city fathers here have decreed that liquor sales be limited to two tourist hotels on opposite ends of the island.

One of them, Petley’s Inn, overlooks the harbor from a restored 19th-Century structure. A 10-minute boat ride from town, the white plaster cottages of the Peponi ( paradise in Swahili) Hotel sit at the gateway to seven miles of deserted beach.

At either hotel a double room with full board during high season (November to February) runs about $105. Bookings may be made through Let’s Go Travel, P.O. Box 60342, Nairobi, Kenya.

Houses for Rent

For a more flexible and less expensive alternative, consider renting a house by the night or week. Shuwari House, a restored Swahili building that sleeps three persons, costs $22 a night.

It features an 18th-Century bathroom as well as modern facilities, rooftop patio, garden courtyard and a modern outdoor kitchen. There’s a houseboy, too. Write to Kenya Villas, P.O. Box 57046, Nairobi, Kenya. This booking service also lists houses in the village of Shela, near the Peponi Hotel and the beach.

If traveling in the off-season, houses can be rented upon arrival from owners and booking agents who greet motor launches from the mainland and the airstrip. A shrewd bargainer can find a house for $10 to $15 a night.

Inexpensive and funky lodges cater to backpackers, who during the 1960s and 1970s made up the greatest segment of visitors. The shoestring traveler can sleep on an inn rooftop, with a refreshing sea breeze and view of the stars, for 95 cents. Budget rooms run $3 to $5.

Seafood Bargains

Backpackers and hotel guests alike may enjoy Indian Ocean seafood at bargain prices in restaurants that range from cheap eateries to comfortable hotel dining rooms.

Try the Equator restaurant, owned by Briton and Kenya old-timer Ron Partridge. During colonial days he ran a Nairobi nightclub of the same name that hosted the likes of Ernest Hemingway and Katherine Hepburn.

Today, Partridge greets guests and takes orders in an small establishment designed like a giant thatched hut that features tiered seating and Partridge’s collection of East African artifacts.

For the crab dinner ($5), guests place crabs on slabs of wood and use mallets to smash the shells.

Amateur chefs can select from an array of fresh lobsters, oysters and fillets at the indoor fish market for homemade feasts. On the town square outside, peddlers tempt tourists with luscious mangoes, papayas and passion fruit.

Fishing Excursions

One afternoon, though, plan on catching your own lunch. Fishermen like Ali and Omar Sultan supplement their income by taking tourists on fishing excursions in traditional dhow sailboats. These vessels, equipped with single pivoting sails and mangrove wood hulls smoothed by the sea, have been plying the Indian Ocean for more than 2,000 years.

On a recent trip, Ali hoisted a patched canvas sail on his family’s dhow, took us to his favorite fishing spot and supplied us with spools of line and baited hooks.

Ali and his brother earn a living using this basic equipment on midnight-to-dawn fishing trips. They pulled in more than a dozen fish, a nice complement to our one each.

For lunch we headed to a nearby island where Ali fashioned a grill from green sticks and roasted the fish Swahili-style over an open fire.

After feasting on tender fish, fresh bread and cabbage-and-tomato salad, we sailed to the southern side of the island, where we spent the rest of the afternoon lazing in the sun.

Trips like this can be arranged with dhow owners on the waterfront for $6.25 per person.

Dhows can also be hired for snorkeling on the reef during Kenya’s summer (December to February) when the water is clear, or for tours of nearby islands.

Manda Island features the 16th- to 17th-Century Swahili ruins of Takwa, across the channel from Lamu at the end of a long creek.

Watch for Elephants

By boat the national monument is only accessible during high tide, so visitors have 45 minutes to see 150 restored buildings, mosques and pillar tombs before the tide changes.

If you take along a tent and stay the night, watch for elephants, which walk across the narrow channel from the mainland at low tide.

Two-day excursions to Pate Island, 18 miles north of Lamu, are led by Bakari Maalim, who works in the Lamu Museum gift shop.

Maalim takes visitors to an excavation by archeologist Mark Horton, who is uncovering the earliest evidence of Arabic settlement in East Africa, the foundation of a 7th-Century mosque.

Visitors spend the night at Bakari’s home, then tour an 18th-Century fort at the sleepy town of Siyu before sailing back to Lamu. Bakari charges $12.50 per person.

Dhows and donkeys carry visitors to Matondoni, a village on the north side of Lamu Island where inhabitants keep busy building and repairing dhows when they’re not immersed in preparing songs or chama dances for festivals.

Before taking any excursions, though, spend a few hours browsing through the well-displayed collections of the Lamu Museum, housed in a restored 19th-Century building on the waterfront.

Lamu is served by independent airlines from the coastal city of Mombasa (213 miles and $100 round trip) and from the inland capital of Nairobi (458 miles, $198 round trip).

Motorists and bus passengers ($14 round trip) from Mombasa endure a good portion of the seven-hour journey on bumpy, dusty dirt roads. All vehicles must be left behind on the mainland--in spirit as well as substance--before boarding a launch and entering the world of Lamu.

For more information on travel to Kenya, contact the Kenya Tourist Office, 9100 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 111, Beverly Hills 90212, phone (213) 274-6635.