Lamu Cultural Festival ends but lacked enough visitors

LAMU CULTURAL FESTIVAL ENDS ON HIGH NOTE

(Posted 01st December 2014)

The annual Lamu Cultural Festival ended yesterday evening, with considerably less visitors than on previous occasions but also without any security incidents, affirming the message the organizers had sent out in the run up to the fete that it was safe to visit.

The 14th edition of the festival, held this year under the theme ‘Peace and Coexistence’ showcased the rich traditions and heritage of Lamu and offered visitors insights into the traditional sports of the archipelago, like donkey races and dhow regattas but also promoted song and poetry, art, crafts and cuisine and not to forget, henna painting, something particularly popular with the ladies visiting Lamu.

(Picture of the Lamu Cultural Festival Dhow regatta by Lulu Clark)

Only a few days prior to the festival taking place did Kenya’s hapless top cop lift a curfew imposed on the town, which has kept in particular high spending foreign visitors away, inflicting serious financial damages on the town’s tourism businesses and leading to constant appeals by the local political leadership to exclude Lamu and Shela Beach from such measures. One of the downsides of this uncertainty led to less sponsorship than usual and to significantly lower number of tourists coming to the event.

Not deterred by all this hullabaloo however were several artists who prevailed in setting up an art exhibition to take place alongside the Lamu Cultural Festival, a very commendable initiative to promote Lamu’s rich art scene.

Lamu, founded in the 14th century, is one of Kenya’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites which has given the ancient town protected status in 2001 at which time the cultural festival idea was conceived and implemented.

This year was marked by the absence of high profile visitors and local tourism stakeholders bemoaned the fact that the tourism cabinet secretary had not travelled to Lamu to reinforce the message that Lamu was safe to visit, unlike one of her predecessors, Najib Balala, who while tourism minister was one of the most ardent supporters of the Lamu Cultural Festival. In contrast did leading politicians from along the entire Kenya coast travel to Lamu to show solidarity and give the town’s residents a moral boost.

The dates for next year’s festival, hopefully attended once again by larger crowds and more foreign visitors, including media to report about the event, were given as 26th to 29th of November 2015.

Next up though will be the Lamu Painters Festival from 02nd to 15th of February 2015 followed by the Lamu Yoga Festival (www.lamuyoga.org) from 12th to 16th of March 2015. Lamu is connected with Nairobi by daily scheduled flights and the local population continues to offer tourists a warm welcome.

For added information click on www.lamutourism.org or follow the links to Lamu via www.magicalkenya.com