Lamu: Kenya's Friendly, Exotic Culture Clash

Everywhere we look today, it seems that the intersection of the sensual mores of Western culture are coming head-to-head with Islam’s desire to reign in rakish and worse behavior.

Lamu in W Magazine Aug. 2009August 2009 W Magazine features Lamu: On the Loose in Lamu, Kenya’s Fabled Haven for Aristocrats and Other Fugitives.

Lamu vascillates between being a chilled-out party town and a place where fully veiled women scurry toward the outdoor market, their eyes darting beneath black bui-buis. An island on Kenya’s Swahili coast, Lamu may just be Africa’s “ultimate exotic hideout”.

I like W’s describing Lamu as the sort of place where Paul Bowles might have settled if he’d taken a wrong turn in Tangier.

Lamu hovers between two worlds, co-existing some places in the world, and at war other places. One hopes for a peaceful future for the sensual beauty and exotic cultural experience that is Lamu.