Lamu Cultural Festival.

17-19 Nov 2006. The Lamu Cultural Promotion Centre welcomes visitors to the Indian Ocean island for the 2006 edition of the annual Lamu cultural festival. The three-day programme includes traditional dance, handicraft displays, Swahili poetry competitions, donkey races, dhow races, henna painting, Swahili bridal ceremonies, a Swahili food bazaar and music and theatre performances by both local and visiting artists. This year will also see the return to Lamu from the university of Bayreuth in Germany of the kibangala (an old Swahili lute carved from solid wood) and other objects once belonging to the 19th century Lamu Sufi, Mohammed Abubakar Kijumwa. The items will be placed in the Lamu Museum, which is holding an exhibition on the life and work of Kijumwa for the occasion. Dating back to at least the early 14th century, Lamu old town is the oldest and best preserved Swahili settlement in East Africa and was declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in 2001.

Lamu Island