NaiSabah is a 75ft Omani sailing dhow, refitted at the end of 2023 and taken by one party at a time. She works the sheltered channels of the Lamu Archipelago on Kenya’s northern coast, sailing the monsoon winds between Shela, Lamu Old Town and the beaches at Kipungani and Kizingoni. She is a boat, not a house: everything happens afloat, and the plan changes with the tide and the wind.
Dolphins run alongside the hull on the passage out.
Mornings bring a snorkelling drop at Kinyika Island, a tidal float down the mangrove creeks, lunch on a sandbank that will be underwater by evening. Dolphins run alongside the hull on the passage out. Her shallow draft takes her into water that keeps larger boats offshore, and below deck three cooled cabins sleep eight, with four more on mattresses on the open deck under the stars.
Jeremy Bastard and Katie Rowe refitted her at the end of 2023. Their family is behind Sarara Camp in the Namunyak Conservancy in the Mathews Range, so one itinerary can run in the same hands from northern Kenya’s dry hills to the Indian Ocean. Dust and game drives give way to salt water and tides. Most guests come for three or four nights afloat at the end of a safari.
Dust and game drives give way to salt water and tides.
Captain Bakari runs the crew, among them a private chef who cooks line-caught fish, crab and coconut curries on deck. Meals are eaten under the awning at the midship table, or at low tables on the sand. Sundowners on the foredeck run on into the stars, and then it is a cool cabin or a mattress on the boards. The crew are Lamu sailors, and anyone who wants to haul a line is handed one.
Below deck there are three cabins. Two are doubles, each with air conditioning, a washbasin and a flush toilet, and the third is a bunk room of four singles that works for children or friends sharing, using a separate bathroom with a hot shower. Cotton sheets, dressing gowns and hot fresh water throughout. The upper deck is the living space, with cushioned daybeds, a shaded dining area and mattresses laid out at night for anyone who would rather sleep in the open air. A desalinator makes the fresh water, and solar and wind carry the power.
The leisure boat that travels with her opens up water-skiing, snorkelling drops on the reefs and fishing in the creeks, and deep-sea trolling, guided saltwater fly-fishing and diving can all be arranged. Kayaks and paddleboards go over the side into the mangrove creeks. Fish eagles hunt the channels here and mudskippers work the exposed roots. Turtles surface off the reefs, and mats come out on deck for yoga at sunrise, before the tide decides where the day goes.
Fish eagles hunt the channels here and mudskippers work the exposed roots.
On land, Lamu Old Town is a UNESCO-listed maze of coral-stone houses and carved doors, walked with a guide from the boat, past woodcarvers still at work in their workshops. Shela’s sand lanes are quieter. Across the channel on Manda Island, the Takwa ruins stand at the head of a mangrove creek, reached by tender on a rising tide. An afternoon might go to palm weaving with women from the village, or a walk on the sand at Kipungani, or a picnic on a bar that surfaces for a few hours and then goes under.
Scheduled and charter flights come in to Manda airstrip, where the crew meet you for a transfer of fifteen to thirty minutes. Sailing keeps to the waters around Lamu, Manda and Shela. The season runs from August to May, the long coastal rains closing NaiSabah in between. Children of six and over can sail if they swim confidently; families with toddlers, or anyone wanting a pool and room to spread out, are better in a house on shore.
accommodation
Three cabins below deck sleep eight, cooled and quiet: two doubles with double beds, washbasins and flush toilets, and a bunk cabin of four singles sharing a bathroom with a hot shower. Four more can sleep on mattresses on the open deck. Cotton bedding, dressing gowns and hot fresh water in every cabin, and Wi-Fi throughout.
activities
Snorkelling on the reefs at Kinyika Island, inshore fishing and trolling from the dhow, tidal floats through mangrove creeks, kayaks and paddleboards. The leisure boat handles water-skiing and deep-sea fishing. On land, guided walks in Lamu Old Town and Shela, the Takwa ruins, palm weaving, sundowners on sandbanks.
conservation
A conservation fee built into every voyage supports conservation work along this coast. Work goes to weavers, guides and fishermen in Lamu and Shela. Donor voyages raise funds for marine research and education focused on ocean health.
Get in touch and let’s start the conversation. An initial consultation helps us understand what you’re looking for, whether that’s specific experiences, luxury touches, or marking a special occasion, and from there we’ll guide you through what’s possible so you can decide if we’re the right fit.
You fly to Manda, the airport for Lamu, where someone from the boat meets you and walks you down to Wimbi, the dhow's own leisure launch, for the run out to wherever she is lying, usually fifteen to thirty minutes.
Scheduled services from Nairobi's Wilson airport take about an hour and three quarters direct, and longer where the aircraft calls at Malindi on the way; there is also a jet from the main international airport of around an hour and twenty minutes, which suits a party arriving straight off an overnight flight.
We can arrange a private charter instead, typically a Cessna Caravan or a Pilatus PC-12, which also lets us fly you straight from a safari airstrip to the coast without going back through Nairobi.
Pack in soft bags. The jet allows more than the fifteen kilograms a person that the light aircraft hold you to, so if the dhow follows a safari camp the smaller figure is the one to pack to. On a boat you want swimwear, a sarong, a hat and very little else.
Most of the sailing is in sheltered water: the channel between Lamu and Manda, the creeks, and the bays down to Kipungani and Kizingoni, with the nights spent at anchor, usually off Shela. That is very different from open ocean, and people who dislike boats generally cope well in this water.
The months matter more than the boat. Under the Kaskazi, the north easterly that runs from about December to March, the sea is calm and the water at its clearest, and January and February are the classic sailing months.
The Kusi, the south easterly from about June to September, blows at fifteen to twenty knots and brings chop and some swell offshore, so any longer passage outside the shelter of the islands is a different proposition then. October and November, between the two, give light breezes and calm mornings that suit a dhow well.
The long rains fall from April into June, and the dhow comes off the water for them. The boat's own site gives the season as January to May and August to December, and other listings close it from May to July, so we confirm the dates for your year rather than assume.
If anyone in the party is prone to seasickness, tell us, and we will keep the route to the inside water and time the longer legs for the morning calm.
Yes, and it is most of the point. Snorkelling, inshore fishing, creek swims and dolphin watching are all included, and the dhow carries a tender and its own leisure launch, so the crew choose where you go in and watch while you are in the water.
Captain Bakari gives a safety briefing when you board, and the crew choose where and when: the snorkelling at Kinyika Island runs on the tide, and the early swims are in the creeks, where the water is flat.
The one firm rule is that everyone on board must be able to swim, and children are taken from six upwards on that basis. That is not a formality on a boat whose living space is an open deck.
Tell us how confident each member of the party is in the water and we will say honestly whether a few nights on the dhow suits them, or whether a house on the shore with the dhow for day trips would be the better shape.
Yes. TravelHealthPro, the UK's official travel health service, rates Kenya as high risk for malaria and recommends antimalarial tablets for it, setting apart only the city of Nairobi and the highlands above 2,500 metres, and it gives no seasonal exemption; the American CDC records transmission in all areas below that altitude and recommends prevention for travellers to them.
The coast is at sea level, so nothing about being on the water changes the rating, and the mangrove creeks the dhow anchors in are exactly where the mosquitoes are at dusk.
We do not make medical recommendations. We are travel planners, not doctors, so which tablets are right for you, whether they suit anyone else in the party and what is appropriate for a child are questions for your own doctor or a travel clinic, best asked with your dates in front of you.
The non-medical part we can speak to: cover up when the light goes, keep repellent to hand, and if you sleep on deck use it before you settle down.
There is wifi on board, by satellite, so the boat is not out of contact even at anchor off an empty beach, and it runs on the dhow's own solar power. Mobile signal is a different matter: it comes and goes across the archipelago and drops away in the creeks and on the outer islands, so do not count on a phone call at a set hour.
It is worth deciding before you board what you actually want. Plenty of people take the dhow precisely to be unreachable for a few days, and a satellite link that everyone knows exists is a temptation. Tell us if anyone needs to work and we will say plainly how well that is likely to go.
rated five stars by our clients
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
our approach
Every journey starts with a conversation. We take the time to understand your vision before we start planning.
Whether by phone or in person, we work with you directly to shape something that is considered, personal, and expertly delivered.
