Batu cooked us a delicious farewell Turkish breakfast - menemen - comprising of eggs, skinned tomatoes, chilli and salt scrambled together and served with toast. Batu's not usually an early riser but he made an exception today (breakfast was ready at 9:30 am - early for Batu time).

Steve, the driver, was meant to pick us up at 11:30 am to take us to the airport but he arrived at 10:30 saying we needed to leave ASAP as the traffic is terrible. It took him 2 hours to get from his house to the volunteer house - a distance of about 5 kms!

So we said our farewells to the other volunteers and were on the road by 11 with the honour of Willy as an escort. The traffic was crazy!!! It took us 1 hour to travel 2 kms. Kate wondered why it was so busy on the roads and Calvin thought the Adventists were out in force today! No-one is ever allowed to complain about traffic again unless they live in Nairobi.

At one point, Steve got out of the car to direct traffic as it was at a stand still. One car was trying to go straight on instead of turning left but this would have held up traffic even more so 10 guys got out banging on the car telling her she could not go straight. Willy was saying 'if she knows what is best for her, she should definitely turn, otherwise they will hit her car'! The distance from the volunteer house to the airport is 14 kms so at the rate we were going, Kate thought there was a good chance we might miss our flight. Fortunately after the first 2 kms, the traffic situation improved a lot and we made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare.

The flight was short - 55 mins - and we both had a nap so it felt even shorter.

A representative from the hotel greeted us at the airport and then he came with us on the local 'ferry' (wooden boat) to get to Lamu town. Calvin almost left our boots on the ferry! He and a porter carried our luggage for us (when we say carried, the porter literally carried the 20kg bag on his head) to JamboHouse. There, we were greeted by Arnold, the German owner of the accommodation. He gave us a very comprehensive outline of where everything is, places to go, good food to eat (and the prices!) etc. He also told us that Lamu is very safe to wander around during the day and at night - a bit of change from Nairobi!

We went for a stroll to the waterfront and had dinner at 'Seafront Cafe' - we had Swahili beef curry and fish in coconut sauce with chapati and fries, as well as a milkshake each - all for only $14. This is the earliest dinner we've had in Kenya so far - at the ripe old time of 6 pm!

Lamu has 2 cars on the island - one is the ambulance and one is for the Commissioner. People get around by walking, by ferry, by dhow but mostly by donkey. There are 3000 donkeys on the island. It definitely feels like we have stepped back in time! There are lots of narrow, cobble stone streets so it looks very easy to get lost. There is a very large Muslim population here and you can hear the call to prayer wherever you go. Lots of people have greeted us (genuine greetings, not ones they say to make you buy something) and have told us to enjoy our stay - initial impressions are an incredibly friendly vibe.