The
Gallery Baraka is an excellent gallery selling
items from West Africa as well as some crafts (especially Maasai
beadwork) that are created in other parts of Kenya. They do also sell
a few wood carvings which are made locally.
The
craftsmanship on some of the pieces on display is incredible. Small wood carvings, pottery,
jewelry and other artisan work fill the walls and tables inside this gallery. This is the best gallery that I found in
Lamu. They are located on the main street just inland from the harbor front. Their telephone is: 33355. A guide can give you exact directions regarding its location.
"For truly local craftsmanship on Lamu, visitors should check out
"Culture Studio" (accessible from the seafront or main
street, near Soda Grocers and Coconut Juice Garden)
and "Coconut Arts & Crafts
Exhibition" (a little more off the beaten path, but fun to find in the
labyrinth of narrow streets--they have posters all over town with a map
to the workshop."
~ Kristen
Photo of Shirt Above: It is strange the type of shirts you
will find in most out of the way places!
There are some excellent
furniture stores in Lama - the best one I found was south of town on the
harbor front road (at the very end of the water front). Some of the
dealers employ craftsman who literally spend days crafting and carving
huge ornate wooden doors which are shipped to coastal cities in the
south such as Mombassa and then wind up gracing the front of opulent
homes. I purchased a slat chair which had an intricately woven mesh as
the back support - I ended up lugging this for 35 days around Africa
before I flew home! One furniture store showed me their workshop in the
back and the owner told me the process of how the doors and and other
pieces of furniture were made.
The following web site in New York sells Lamu made furniture. The owner
of this site splits his time between Lamu and New York.
www.lamu.com
There
are several
Internet Cafe's in town including some by the waterfront but not all are
that good. For a reliable connection try the Peponi Hotel.
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Dave's Pick