The Lead KE

Climate Tech and Mobility

lamu festival - donkey racing picture
Culture

Lamu: the capital of cultural festivals adds 3 more

Lamu is arguably the capital of cultural festivals in Kenya. And it is adding three more festivals to its annual festival menu.

Lamu County CEC for Tourism and Culture Aisha Miraji announced this week the three new festivals which are:

  1. Amu Seafood Cuisine Festival
  2. Governor’s Dhow Race Festival
  3. Amu Triathlon Contest

Amu Seafood Cuisine Festival

This will be a two-day cultural festival that will take place every 23rd and 24th of April, starting 2023.

According to Miraji, the Amu Seafood Cuisine Festival will be will “be marked during Idd-Ul-Fitr and will include Taarab traditional Music, plays, and skits among others.”

The festival will be on the seafronts where seafood will be displayed and enjoyed.

Already, the Lamu County government has allocated KES 1.5 million for the fete.

Governor’s Dhow Race Festival

The Governor’s Dhow festival will take place every 19th August on the Island.

The one day celebration will happen in a competitive way where coxswains will their skills in dhow riding and navigation.

Winners will get cash and trophy awards.

Amu Triathlon Contest

Amu Triathlon Contest will be a year closing event every 31st December.

Competitors will swim, cycle, and sprint on donkeys the Lamu way.

The triathlon contest attracted a lot of attention when it first got coopted in the Lamu Cultural Festival 2022. Now I will be a standalone festival.

Other festivals in Lamu

As opined earlier, Lamu is the cultural festivals capital of Kenya and the larger East Africa.

The UNESCO world heritage site is home to one of the oldest and most popular annual festivals, the Lamu Cultural Festival.

Other festivals that happen in the coastal town are: Lamu Art Festival, Maulid, Shella Hat Contest, Lamu Food and Expo Festival, Lamu Yoga, Fishing Competition and the Kite and Paint festivals.

The Island of Festivals hopes to boost its torusim through the introduction of more events even as the new CS Peninah Malonza focuses more on cultural tourism.

The CS announced during the Rusinga Cultural Festival 2022 where she was chief guest that cultural festivals had a lot of potential as Kenya diversifies its tourism offerings.

Did you know?

Lamu old town is a UNESCO world heritage site and the only mode of transport apart from walking is donkey riding?

Important dates this year:

20 – 22 October – Maulid Festival (136th edition)

25 – 29 October – Yoga Festival

30 Nov – 2 Dec – Lamu Cultural Festival (21st edition)

Share this:
The Lead KE is a web communications service based in Nairobi, Kenya. We offer in depth articles and news on technology, business, travel, culture and climate. The blog mainly covers Kenya and the East African region. Send queries, press releases and tips to theleadkenya@gmail.com