MATONDONI is the most talked-about destination on Lamu apart from Shela and the beach. It's a fine walk if you start early, with a hot return made more bearable by the prospect of a cold drink at the end - the soft sand track isn't fun in blazing sunshine. A sane, enjoyable alternative is to go by donkey : fix up a beast through your guest-house reception, or you can take one of the sand dhows on its trip from Lamu jetty to Matondoni, get some lunch and walk back along the line of the telephone wires. In truth, Matondoni itself is not wildly exciting and its fame as the district's principal dhow-building centre seems misplaced.

 

If you really want to look around the whole island , proceed from Matondoni to KIPUNGANI , one hour's walk from the end of the beach (4hr from Shela village). This is the halfway mark on the round-the-island walk; the whole trip takes eight or nine hours at least. It is useful to know the state of the tides for the stretch from Matondoni to Kipungani, as you can take a direct route through the mangroves at low tide (but don't get caught out). Kipungani has an upmarket hotel , 1.5km before the village, in the shape of Kipungani Explorer (Lamu office under Lamu Archipeligo Villas , PO Box 63 tel & fax 0121/33432; reservations through Heritage Hotels; closed after Easter to early July), a delightful "desert island" complex of fourteen simple mat-and- makuti thatch bandas up on the beach, with bar and restaurant decorated with driftwood and the products of beachcombings. It's expensive (FB over Ksh16,000/$215), but with justification; the food is superb and the welcome, service, and sense of blissful isolation are everything you could ask for. The views over the sands and channel are exceptional, and there's a pool, too. Excursions, windsurfing and snorkelling trips are all on offer. You can get there direct from Lamu town by speedboat (30min), or more slowly by dhow. Check first with the office in Lamu if you want to go for lunch (Ksh1000).