Manda Airport (IATA: LAU, ICAO: HKLU), also known as Lamu Airport, is a small civilian airport on Manda Island, serving the Lamu Archipelago in Kenya.
Map of Kenya showing Lamu's location.
It provides air access to Lamu Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as well as nearby islands like Shela and Manda. The airport mainly handles domestic flights from Nairobi, Mombasa, and Malindi.
Location and Infrastructure
Situated at 6 metres (20 ft) above sea level, the airport has two runways. The first runway (15/33) is paved with asphalt and measures 6,330 feet (1,930 m) in length and 100 feet (30 m) in width.
Historical Context
Lamu, on Kenya’s northern coastline, is now a tourist idyll and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. However, five centuries ago, it was a crucial international commercial hub before it gradually lost its status.
Read also: Kenya's Hidden Gem
With a history dating to the 8th century and globally acknowledged as East Africa’s Islamic capital, Lamu boasts a rich intercultural diversity in its history.
In the 1500s, Lamu was a flourishing seaport connecting maritime trade routes of the Middle East, India, and the Far East. Barter trade in timber, turtle shells, rhino horns, slaves, and ivory in exchange for clothes and spices prospered due to the friendly northeasterly monsoon (kaskazi) and southeasterly monsoon (kusi) winds.
It now seems that the events of five centuries ago are about to be replayed. The $25bn Lamu Port-Southern Sudan-Ethiopia Transport (Lapsset) Corridor, capped by renewed interest by multinational oil giants in prospecting for oil in the Lamu basin and the steep rise in real estate value in the entire Lamu archipelago, are all contributing to creating a phoenix-like revival, turning Lamu into a regional economic hub.
Transform Lamu 2030
Past Incidents
On 14 October 2003, a Cessna 208 Caravan I owned and operated by Airkenya Express, with one pilot and no passengers, took off from Wilson Airport in Nairobi, headed for Manda Airport in Lamu, approximately 450 kilometres (280 mi), by air, to the southeast. Soon after becoming airborne, the aircraft lost height, crash-landed in Nairobi National Park and overturned. The pilot sustained minor injuries.
Security Concerns
The airport is near the Camp Simba US naval base. Al-Shabaab militants attacked the base in January 2020.
Read also: Swahili Culture in Lamu
Al-Shabaab militants.
To secure the gains of Lamu and curtail terrorism and piracy threats, the Kenya government, with the support of the US and EU, now maintains a naval base on the island complete with 24-hour patrol boats.
Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) Corridor
LAPSSET was conceived to create a second transport corridor through Kenya’s north-eastern region - providing a new highway, railway track and oil pipeline to both South Sudan and newly discovered oil in northern Kenya.
As well as a port, Lamu has been promised a new international airport, an oil refinery and a resort city.
Other development projects in Lapsset include a standard-gauge railway line to Juba in Southern Sudan with a branch line to Ethiopia, a superhighway connecting to Ethiopia and South Sudan and the construction of an international airport in Lamu.
Read also: LAPSSET Infrastructure Project
According to Peter Oremo, the Lamu Port project manager, by the year 2030 the volume of traffic using the Lamu Port is projected to reach 24m tonnes annually.
Using a three-phase construction model, dredging, the construction of the first three berths, administration blocks, storage yard and warehouses are expected to be completed by 2015 at a cost of $664m.
Presently, Lamu’s population stands at 100,000, according to Oremo. This figure is expected to reach 250,000 in 2020 and 500,000 in the year 2030.
LAPSSET Corridor project.
The project’s strategic location at the intersection of major shipping routes is expected to boost regional trade and economic growth.
The yard’s technical specifications required high strength. Deep coral reef limestone underneath the site made pile driving difficult.
Real Estate and Economic Revival
Palatial, high-end beach houses are springing up in Shela beach and Manda Island. Asking prices for houses in the fashionable villages of Shela, Manda, Ras Kitau, and Kipungani range from €100,000 to €500,000. Most are owned by wealthy Europeans, who keep them as holiday homes.
Lamu’s quiet and unencumbered lifestyle of sailing dhows and donkeys for travel attracts both glitterati and backpackers.
“Somehow we all knew there was something special about Lamu in terms of natural resources and maritime species. We just didn’t know what it was. With the current excitement of a new port and interest amongst major oil companies in our island, I guess now we all know,” says Jaffar Shemanga, who has lived all his life on this island.
Oil Exploration
French oil giant Total has already indicated that it will be acquiring a 30% stake in five oil exploration blocks in the Lamu basin through its local subsidiary Total E&P Kenya BV. The five are Blocks L5, L7, L11a, L11b and L12.
Australian firm Pancontinental Oil & Gas will be completing 2D and 3D marine seismic surveys in Block L10a and L10b in the Lamu basin.
Another heavy hitter in the oil business targeting Kenya is the UK-listed oil firm Tullow, which bought a 50% stake in Centric Energy’s Block 10BA in northwestern Kenya in February 2011.
Brazil’s Petrobras is also among the top oil firms set to benefit when the Kenya government opens its next round of prospecting licences awards.
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