A house boat off of Kenya?  Yes, please.  The Indian Ocean is deceptively warm, but I wouldn’t mind living on one of these for a few weeks.  When we traveled to Lamu, we were greeted by a time warp.  The small island felt like a swahili trading post of centuries gone by.  That was of course until we noticed all of the internet cafe and souvenir boutique signs.  Nevertheless it was a great place to spend a few days.  Nothing much to do but to relax, take in the slower pace of island life and enjoy the swahili culture.

I’d still rate it as one of my favorite places to go and relax in the world.  Maybe it was the fact that we took two horrendous bus journeys and then a boat to get there, but Lamu felt like a secret island at the end of the road.  A pot of gold at the end of a bumpy rainbow if you will.  We were relieved to get there and even more happy to immediately feel included and welcomed by our neighbors (we stayed in a private home).  The community was incredibly open and inviting and in nearly every shop we were warmly greeted and gratefully shown around. Maybe I should stop writing about it?  I hope this place never changes.

To see more of our favorite photos from around the world check out our travel photo page. Let us know your favorites and we’ll include them in our photo of the day series.

IF YOU GO: Take time to explore the Lamu Museum and Lamu Archipelago by dhow.  We took a day and went to Takwa Ruins, which was deserted and made for some very interesting photography.  Be sure to watch the tides if you go to Takwa, we were caught having to walk between sandbars back to our boat. Island life is very appealing and there are more islands in the Lamu Archipelago that have hotels if you’re interested in exploring the area a bit more.  There’s an airport on the coast, but flights to Lamu aren’t easy to book like corfu flights – they fill up quickly so reserve ahead.