#TravelTuesday - Lamarelle House and other Lamu stories (3 of 3)
Hey guys. Welcome back to my Lamu adventures. This is the last of the series. Last time we spoke, us guys were staying at the Majlis in Manda. You can catch up with that here if you haven’t.
A passionate welcome to Lamarelle. (see what I did there? Passion. Passionate. Come on)
Lamarelle house is about 100m from the Majlis so we got the guys at the Majlis to help us with our luggage and walked there. We were there in 10 minutes. What a life. The host, Marcella is the most gracious host and we felt very welcome even without her present.
Lamarelle is a colonial house made in coastal style. Huge and with an open to the sky courtyard in the centre of the house leading to the master bedroom. It is a beachfront house that has a compound that extends all the way to the beach. All rooms are extra spacious and you can even get lost in the house :). Like most Lamu houses, it’s very open to the outside but through the central courtyard. This is beautiful during the hot season, which is almost all year round. You may need a light sheet during the rainy season but that’s it. It’s still warm.
Central courtyard leading to the master bedroom.
The entry porch. Fun fact; These seats were made for royalty. True story.
Master bathroom
Living room.
Dining Area.
Lamarelle boasts a parked dhow right at the entrance (for the life of me, I didn’t photograph it) You will have to take my description of it. The dhow is for meals if you so wish. You can eat from in there right at the beach while watching the waves and Shela on the other side. It rained every single day of our stay there so we only had one meal in the dhow (*tears). After having been on the island for 6 days by the time we got here, we were ready to take it easy a little bit and spent most of that time chilling and enjoying some down time at Lamarelle. And eating. Oh my goodness. The food that Chef Mzungu (real name haki) at Lamarelle made was divine. We had fresh home made bread for breakfast every day. Every day.
When it wasn't raining, we had most meals here.
And when it was raining, we had em here.
I am sure I gained some weight in Lamu.
We did take a stroll into Lamu town and get a guided tour of Lamu old town. We walked about for about 2 hours with Hassan (our knowledgeable guide) & Rode a donkey (not as comfy as you would imagine. Actually, it was quite a pain in the ass). The thing about this time we were there was that it was Ramadhan so you couldn't find food till after 6pm when the sun set. We had to stay strong. This is one thing to consider if you wanna visit Lamu in July.
Jess
Hassan
Noni
We also went to visit the museum which used to be a prison. It’s a megalithic structure that catches good light. Inside is like a labyrinth but we had the able @Swahiligal who actually was very instrumental in making sure we enjoyed some rare Lamu adventures. Hola at her if you’re headed to Lamu and she will help out. Pay her though.
@Joshkisamwa Dope cinematographer. Check his Gram.
@Swahiligal Purveyor of all great adventure in Lamu. If you want to have a great time doing stuff that isn't advertised, talk to her.
We also got a chance to check out a few places for future visits to Lamu. Moon houses caught our eye. I mean, see the beauty in this setup.
Swahiligal and Noni here dressed in @ZerobyZawadi sayaris. Zawadi introduced me to Lamarelle house basically. The power of a friend of a friend.
Shela.
In another day or 2 it was time to head back to Nairobi. What a holiday that had been though.
Kwaheri Lamu. See you again soon. I can't wait to come back to this place.
Also, watch this video I shot at Lamarelle House with Swahiligal.
I hope you enjoyed this. If you did, please let me know in the comments. Have a great Tuesday filled with sweet daydreams of lamu. God bless!
You can see Lamarelle house and book on Airbnb
Their Instagram - @Lamarellehouse_Lamu