Lamu is a town with a rich history and texture increasingly threatened by modern interventions and the loss of its traditional socio-economic base. The town has prospered and declined in waves over time and is now a serious conservation challenge due to the developments of the last two decades: lack of maintenance, population increase and expanding numbers of tourists.

Two conservation plans have been written in an effort to overcome these negative effects and benefit the community. The first in 1976 was, in many ways, a baseline survey that began to lay the foundation for preservation planning. It resulted in the identification and preservation of a few isolated monuments. Perhaps more importantly, it raised awareness and heightened the prominence of cultural heritage in Lamu and also in Kenya.

Lamu, apart from being an island where rest and relaxation can be found to your heart's content, does have a few things to see. There is a small fort which dates back to 1821, having been completed by the Sultan of Oman after Lamu asked for protection. A second site is a fluted pillar tomb, which may date as far back as the 1300s.

Lamu's other offering is the Lamu Museum, with exhibits on Swahili culture, the mainland's non-Swahili groups, and two siwa horns which are probably the oldest surviving musical instruments in black Africa. The exhibits explain the history and meaning of the items, allowing visitors to understand the rich culture that Lamu contains. There is even a description and history of the buibui, including the fact that it was only introduced in Lamu in the 1930s.

The passage of the Antiquities and Monuments Act in 1983 spurred the community and government agencies to work with the National Museums of Kenya and to carry out the subsequent Lamu Conservation Plan completed in 1986. This plan proposed creating a conservation area and dictated how land could be used in the town to ensure sensitivity to the historic fabric of Lamu.

Illustrated building regulations provide a how-to guide for homeowners who wish to alter their existing houses or build a new one within the historic district. The plan was a well-crafted document that served its purpose boldly. It remains to be seen whether or not its noble, yet pragmatic, intentions will be enough to withstand the powerful forces of the contemporary economy and tourism development.

Other attractions are easy to spot, with Lamu's beautiful carved doors being a prime example. Just north of Lamu are the ancient ruins of Shanga, which adds its own bit of interesting history to Kenya's coast. The site covers 221 acres, and contains what remains of the coral walls of 160 houses, two palaces, three mosques, and hundreds of tombs.

What is fascinating about Shanga is the local legend behind the name, which says that it was settled by Chinese traders from Shanghai - and so the name of Shanga. Supporting this theory are the facts that the words for tea - chai - is the same in Swahili and Mandarin and also that Chinese pottery has been found among the ruins. The main attraction of Lamu is still its beaches.

Lamu, at its current location, was established by the fourteenth century. It had already been settled, however, and travelers likely have known about it for 2000 years. 1505 brought a Portuguese warship to the island, and Lamu agreed to pay cash tributes in return for protection.

Portuguese dominance of Lamu continued for 180 years, threatened only briefly by a Turkish fleet. Lamu's golden age began at the end of the seventeenth century. The Portuguese were no longer in control (having been ousted by the Omanis), and Lamu flourished for the next 150 years. Ruled by the Yumbe (a council of elders), Lamu was controlled only loosely by the Omanis.

It became the star port of the Indian Ocean and a centre of poetry, politics, arts and crafts as well as the trade which made it rich. In 1812, however, Lamu defenders defeated an attacking force at the Battle of Shela. The invaders were massacred and the Yumbe of Lamu, fearing a bloody reprisal from the Mazruis in Mombasa, asked Oman for protection. The Sultan of Oman gladly occupied Lamu, permanently ending the island's independence.

The Sultan then proceeded to destroy the Mazrui, who were Omanis and had declared themselves to be independent from Oman. The entire coast fell and the Sultanate was moved to Zanzibar. Lamu went into a downward spiral towards the end of the nineteenth century as Mombasa and Zanzibar grew rapidly. Its eventual economic collapse resulted in the quiet, peaceful island that exists today.