Here we are with the part 2 of our tale about Lamu Old town, in particular the Lamu Museum.

If you’re missing the first part, you can read it here.

Going on with the exploration of the rooms of the Lamu old Town Museum, you’ll face with a display of a bride in the traditional garb and the man of the house, ready to partake in an array of delicacies.

The kitchen contains various items that would be found in a typical Swahili kitchen.

To the far right you can see a Mbuzi, a coconut shredder. Coconut is a common addiction to Swahili food.

To the right there is a Kifumbu which is a strainer made of palm fronds used for squeezing coconut milk out of shredded coconut.

From left to right Jiwe la Kusaga mahindi, a stone for grinding maize; Jiwe la kusaga dawa, a stone for grinding medicine and a Kinu cha tambi, a machine used to make spaghetti.

On the bottom shelf to the right there is a Mchapo, a wooden blender used for making Ghee.

On the right you can see an Uteo, tray in the middle below the picture is a Dele, a brass coffee pot.

Coming from the Coast side of Kenya you’ll have for sure seen women in Kanga, commonly known as a Leso. A kanga is a colorful garment of printed cotton fabric similar to mostly, worn by women.

The size is around 1m and half by 1m often with a border aong all four sides, called Pindo in Swahili, and a central part called in swahili Mji which is different in design from the borders.

Kangas are usually bought and worn as a pair called Doti.

On the longest side of the border there is usually a message in Swahili language, often in form of riddles, sayings or proverbs.

For example: “Akiba haiozi” which means “Is always good to save or invest in the future“.

Don’t miss the 2 models of boat displaying right in front of the doors leading to the balcony.

The one with a square sail is a Mtepe, an unique boat built in swahili culture of East Africa in Lamu Archipelago.

Thank you for reading, hope you ejoyed my tour of the museum, and I wish to have spread enough curiosity to push you to come to visit my beautiful island!

Thanks to our copywriter directly from Lamu.

Shaimaa Mohamed Khalid, a 23 year old Lamu girl. Proud nurse and free time blogger