Kenya Lamu Restorations

The Royal African Foundation and Royal African Safaris helped to fund and take part in the Lamu Seafront Rehabilitation Project in 2016, led by the National Museums of Kenya. The project involved the restoration of the Lamu entrance arch; repainting the outside of the Lamu Fort and waterfront buildings; cleaning up litter and rubble and tree planting.

Royal African Safaris did not stop there.

Some of the sails of the community-owned dhows needed replacing, so as part of a safari, Royal African Safaris sponsored a dhow race, and safari guests painted the sails of the boat they would be racing in. Then they donated 30 new sails to the boat owners, and the old painted sails were sewn into bags by ladies in the community and given back to the guests at the end of the trip.

This fitted in with a theme of this safari, which was ‘mitumba mara tatu.’ It’s a Swahili saying that means to use something again and again. Royal African Safaristried to make every dollar used on the safari do as much good as possible as it dropped down the value chain.

Another example of ‘mitumba mara tatu’ in Lamu was the guests dressing up in Buibuis and Kanzus for the dinner on the last night that was hosted by the community in the fort. Afterwards, Royal African donated the over 100 Buibui’s and Kanzus they wore to needy families in Lamu. Additionally, donations were made to Safari Doctors and the Anidan orphanage whose drum group gave a fantastic performance for guests upon their arrival in Lamu town.

Thank you very much to everyone involved!