Lamu Old Town

Lamu Old Town is the oldest continuously inhabited Swahili settlement in East Africa, dating back to at least the 12th century. Set on an island off the northern Kenyan coast just south of the Somali border, the town's coral-stone houses, hand-carved wooden doors, narrow car-free alleys, and waterfront merchants' quarters have preserved Swahili urban culture more completely than anywhere else on the East African coast. UNESCO inscribed Lamu Old Town as a World Heritage Site in 2001. The island has no cars beyond a handful of government vehicles. Donkeys and dhows handle transport, giving Lamu a slower rhythm than anywhere else on the Kenyan coast. Visitors come for the architecture, the annual Maulidi and cultural festivals, the dhow sailing trips into the Lamu archipelago, and to stay in restored Swahili houses converted into boutique guesthouses. Shela village a short walk south of the old town offers a 12-kilometre beach largely free of development.