1001 African-Arabian Nights

For two thousand years, the ancient archipelago of Lamu, on Kenya's North Coast, has sheltered the remnants of centuries-old civilizations, unique architecture, and diverse cultures. The Old Town remains locked in an age that approaches life at a walking pace. (Motorized vehicles are prohibited.) Midst the maze of narrow, winding streets and alleys, one can discover the vibrancy of this under-represented African Islamic society which still pulses with the DNA of every people-group across the Indian Ocean; Persians, Arabs, Indian, Malay, with a smattering of Portuguese, Dutch, German, and British influences.

Intimately tethered to the tides, these ancient island city-states retained links to millennia-old trade routes that drew notables including Ibn Batuta, Vasco De Gama, the storied Sindbad the Sailor, along with pirates, slavers, and big-game hunters to these shores. Traders in spices, ivory, gold, turtle shell, and a supply of fresh food and water, shaped these communities, bequeathing rich cultures and heritage.

Along the waterfront wall that still divides the old town from the open waters of the Swahili Coast, you witness the age-old tradition of wooden ship-building and fishing which still dominate the economies of these descendants. Daily, fresh seafood comes ashore and can be purchased aside fresh coconuts, oranges, pastries, and red bananas.

Tradition states the first traders were Hellenized Egyptians then Romans. According to the elders, a city, buried for over a thousand years, remains hidden beneath the sands of time. Future research might connect these ancient roots to previously unknown trade routes, lost now for generations. The fortification in the center of town illustrates the historical accounts which relate how inter-island, intrigue and conflict ebbed and rose with the fortunes and failures of alliances. Cannons, from all periods, line the promenade and the museum houses beautiful examples of clothing and other cultural materials such as woodwork, carved doors, musical instruments and the like, described by explorers in the 15th century.

Decades ago, archaeology uncovered foundations from the 11th-15th century homes, mosques, and store house. These finds include Florentine glass beads, Ming Dynasty ceramics, Persian coins, gold from regions south, iron from Ethiopia, etc. One is left to imagine the fabrics, the manuscripts, the carpets, tapestries, wood lattices and intricately carved doors, and other furnishings which lent opulence enveloped in the pungent aromas of incense from every port of the medieval world.

Tucked away on other remote islands, in quiet piety and settled serenity, lie the ruins of palaces, fortifications, and villages founded by shipwrecked merchants from China, India, and Persia. Many still boast their mastery of engineering and irrigation innovations.

For now, the serenity of bird-song fills the air. A normally skittish bushbuck ambles among ancient ruins, seemingly aware the clamor of the last population ceased seven centuries earlier. Through cathedral-tall teak trees, we glimpse remnants of the under-represented world of East Africa's Swahili Coast. Wandering the silent streets of this African-Islamic civilization lost to memory, glimpses of past grandeur remain, along with a few standing walls and haunting tombs of a people long forgotten. Above the gate of this ancient cemetery, an ominous inscription declares, “Death comes for all.”

Surrounded now by farms and massive baobab trees, the sanctity of these sacred spaces still breathe a prayer of those who came before, “Let us not be forgotten.” If one listens well, one hears the bustle of an adjacent buried village, where descendants of these architects and traders till traditional gardens. For too long, these faint echoes of Africa's past have gone unheeded. Discover these lost sites with me in our exciting journey of Africa telling her own story.

As evening falls, the quiet and the cool ushers in opportunities to reflect, relax, and explore the exotic cuisine that transports you to worlds long forgotten, or told now only in medieval lore. Curries, savories, sweets, with fresh seafood and coconut milk, hints of the traditions of centuries and languages that fused this culture into a unique community.

As an archaeologist, I return every year to build a more comprehensive narrative, linking the past with her present, and providing fellow explorers an opportunity to participate in this vanishing world. Find yourself in an ancient world of wonder and enchantment. Come explore this world with me, first-hand, where by evening, jasmine and incense infuse the air, as rhythmic waves lull you to sleep. Live, even for a moment, the exotic, fanciful wonder of the 1001 African-Arabian nights.