Traveling to
Lamu to attend last Sunday’s Mad Hatter Dhow Race was a journey and a half.
As I didn’t want
to miss my 9am flight from Wilson airport to Manda Island (where all Lamu-bound
visitors must land) I first took Kimani’s boda boda taxi to the airport gate;
then Maingi’s four-wheeled taxi into my airline entrance.
In fact, I’d
almost missed the flight since police stopped my boda man who, as it turned out,
didn’t have his license with him. I pleaded, implored and finally we got away
(no chai given), but Kimani was spooked and dropped me before we’d reached the
gate.
Fortunately,
Maingi came to my rescue and I made it in time to board the flight, first to
Mombasa, then to Lamu where it was already after noon and scorching hot.
Again, I was
blessed when my friend Herbert sent Captain Nasir and his dhow Lady Gaga to
collect me and the German sculptor Joachim Sauter to take us straight to Shela jetty
and the Peponi Hotel, the favorite watering hole of ex-pats and Kenya cowboys
who come periodically to Lamu.
Peponi is
where I met Herbert and the three judges of the Shela Hat Contest, one of three
competitions involving locals and promising substantial cash prizes to the
winners that weekend. On Saturday the 5th Shela Hat Contest would
stimulate more grassroots creativity than ever before, in part because all of
the top thirty winning hats would win a minimum Sh2000 and a maximum of
Sh50,000. Then while the judges were deliberating on which hats were the most
imaginative and well crafted, there would be five Tug of War contests with the
three winning teams also getting cash prizes of tens of thousands per team.
And then on
Sunday, all classes of Shela citizenry would show up at the seashore to watch
the Mad Hatter Dhow Race which also promised major cash awards to the winning
dhows. The dhow crossing the finishing line first would win sh80,000; the
second one, sh60,000 and the third Sh40,000, so there would be lots of tension
in the air.
Herbert had
also called in two young Kenyan filmmakers from Routes Adventure to cover the
Hat Fete, but they would stick around through Sunday so they could shoot the
Dhow races. Herbert kindly lent his media friends, including the filmmakers,
photographer Eric Gitonga and me his speed boat so we could quickly follow the
dhows all the way around the race.
This was the
most thrilling feature of the weekend since the dhows are propelled by wind. But
we had the advantage of a proper engine and speed that could make our boat
virtually fly across the water. We also had an excellent pilot and navigator
who both had experience following previous dhow races. They both understood
instinctively where the boat needed to be to get the best shots of the dhows in
motion. They also knew how to crisscross between the dhows while keeping
sufficient distance so as not to interfere with the wind on which the dhows
relied.
Both the
navigator and pilot are local guys so they, like everyone from the village had
a personal preference and cheered on their respective team. In fact, emotions
ran so high that when we went back to shore to see how the race would end, we
found there were already rumors of who would win and who had cheated so they’d
appear to be first.
Ultimately,
the judges would sort of the winners and losers. But they would have help from
Herbert’s filmmakers who’d brought along a drone that had been following the
race. Hopefully, its footage would rise above the high-pitched emotions and
provide visual evidence of who really won.
Meanwhile,
bystanders were busy dancing on the beach to the electronic sounds master
minded by the Chinese female DJ Qiu Qui who’d come all the way from Beijing to attend
the Dhow Races.
After the
emotional high-pitch of all of these contests, our evening was relaxed and
low-key. By dawn I was set to board Lady Gaga again and fly back home to
Nairobi.
My one
regret was not taking the chance when I had it to ride a donkey, the preferred
mode of transport in Shela. But the moment passed while I was preoccupied
watching the way drones have a peacetime utility, following the dhows and
seeing if it was the dhow called Lady Lulu or Galaxy who ultimately won this
year’s Mad Hatter Dhow Race.
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