Lamu Old Town, Kenya

Lamu, Kenya
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lamu_town_on_Lamu_Island_in_Kenya.JPG
Author: Magnus Kjaergaard


Lamu Old Town is the oldest and best preserved Swahili town in East Africa. It is the biggest town on Lamu Island, in the Lamu Archipelago off the southeast coast of Kenya.

The exitence of Lamu is said to have been documented in the chronicles of Admiral Zheng He in 1415. The port of Lamu is believed to have existed for over a thousand years, according to the chronicles of Arab traveller Abu-al-Mahasini.

The modern history of Lamu began with the Portuguese invasion in 1506, followed by Omani domination in around 1813.

Lamu Old Town was inscribed as a World Heritage Site during the 25th session of the World Heritage Committee which was held in Helsinki, Finland, on 11 to 16 December, 2001.

Lamu, Kenya
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lamu_Town.jpg
Author: MysteryBee

World Heritage Site Inscription Details

Location: S 2 17 4 E 40 51 9
Inscription Year: 2001
Type of Site: Cultural
Inscription Criteria: II, IV, VI

 Latest updates on Penang Travel Tips

About this website

Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.