The Pate Paradise Hotel is now deserted. PHOTO | MARGARETTA WA GACHERU
What you need to know:
Some of the most impressive locations just outside the old limestone and coral side of Pate town are the Nabahani ruins which one would be wise to find a guide to help you reach.
Pate had been a centre of Islamic scholarship; but sadly, the Pate army was defeated by the military coming from Lamu. After that, the island never recovered and was already in decline by the time the Portuguese arrived in the late 16th century.
The easiest and quickest way to get to Pate Island, one of the Lamu Archipelagoes, is by speed boat. Then if you travel at high tide, you can get there in around 45 minutes.
Currently, the alternatives are few. One way is the motorised public ferry which takes a good two hours if one picks it from the Lamu jetty and lands at Mtangwanda village, which is the nearest point to Pate town and takes around one more hour’s walk to reach.
The other way is to take the cargo ferry that carries both passengers and goods, but that literally can take you half a day since it serves the whole island and makes ‘ferry stops’ along the way. Either way, Pate is located 20 kilometres to the northeast of Lamu Island and is said to be around three times its size.
Ruins
Pate’s heyday was back in the 16th century when the Sultans reigned. The remains of their palaces, mosques, stone walls and houses can still be found just outside the town at Nabachani and further up the coast at Shangu.
The ruins are said to be among the most impressive of any along the Kenyan coast. Nonetheless, there is virtually no tourism on Pate and if one wants to stay overnight, you’ll need to bring a tent.
Otherwise, day trips are best advised by Marit Thume, a cultural anthropologist and doctoral candidate at the University of Bergen in Norway, who came along with the 14 Kenyan and European artists who were attending the Lamu Painters Festival in mid-February.
Ms Thume and her husband Jens Kristian first came to Pate in 2006 to buy a dhow since the construction of dhows is one of the few thriving industries on the island. They were struck by the underdevelopment of the island but also deeply impressed with the Nabachani ruins, especially as they have worked closely with the Lamu Museum since their arrival from Oslo almost 10 years ago.
Herbert Menzer, the retired German restaurateur who founded the Lamu Painters Festival in 2011 was also impressed with Pate, particularly as he felt it could serve as a perfect setting for the ‘plein air’ artists participating in the festival to stake out picturesque sites where they could paint for part of the day. (Plein air is a European arts movement made up of artists who prefer painting out of doors.)
Some of the most impressive locations just outside the old limestone and coral side of Pate town are the Nabahani ruins which one would be wise to find a guide to help you reach.
Otherwise, it’s too easy to get lost without a local person who can help you find your way through the town’s narrow (and newly paved by the Thume Foundation) streets, past the coconut plantations and finally arrive at the ruins.
Scenic
Only two out of the 14 painters reached the ruins on the day Herbert arranged for three speedboats to take us to the island. One was the Russian artist Natasha Dik, the other was British painter Sophie Walbeoffe. The others got waylaid by other scenic views that they found along the way.
Both Sophie and Natasha arrived at the ruins well before high noon when the equatorial sun and unrelenting heat made painting almost impossible. Herbert had organised for broad umbrellas to be brought so that intrepid painters like these two could continue painting until they were done.
Islamic scholarship
Meanwhile, Marit explained that the Sultans of Pate ruled the islands between the 15th and 16th centuries when they managed to stave off rival armies.
And around that same time, Pate had been a centre of Islamic scholarship; but sadly, the Pate army was defeated by the military coming from Lamu. After that, the island never recovered and was already in decline by the time the Portuguese arrived in the late 16th century.
Since then, the island has endured neglect from the powers that be. “It is basically the ‘periphery [of the Kenya coast],” Marit says.
However, that may be changing soon, particularly when the new Lamu Port is build and boat traffic through the Mkanda Channel is likely to grow exponentially. A lot more curious tourists are bound to go to Pate Island if for no other reason than to see its historic ruins.
