Lamu Calling

Word is out, the ticket is in hand, the speedo packed and the aspirin counted, I am going to The Kwani Literary Festival in Lamu from December 21st to 28th. What could be better than surf and sand and books and people who love them?

Lamu from the tourist brochures is described as ‘hypnotically exotic’ where ‘life slows down, and long days are spent strolling along the waterfront, exploring the town or relaxing on the beaches.’ Of course people also live there and that is what really gets me, how enticed I am by the touristy descriptions of my own country. How is it that my tastes have converged so much with the Africa as Consumable sector that sees Kenya as nothing more than a giant game park that happens to have a few, corrupt, ‘underdeveloped’ people living in it?

These are the kind of questions that I shall ask as I lie on the beach with cocktail in hand. There is nothing better than angst in the midst of plenty.