With the decline of agriculture in the late 19th century through the gradual loss of slave labour and with the European push into the interior with the instruction of the Uganda railroad, Lamu drifted into economic obscurity as a small remote island town. It is the town's isolation from 20th century modernization that has preserved Lamu's unique architectural and cultural heritage and it stands today as a reminder of its illustrious past.
There are few motorised vehicles on the island. These include a car belonging to the District Commissioner; a tractor owned by Lamu County Council and more recently an ambulance belonging to the King Fahad Hospital, that can only move along the single thoroughfare of the seafront.
Attractions
- Lamu Museum; including exhibits on Swahili culture and the mainland's non-Swahili groups
- Lamu Fort; dating back to 1821, having been built by the Sultan of Oman shortly after Lamu's victory over Pate and Mombasa, in the battle of Shela
- German Post Office Museum
- Swahili House Museum
- Takwa National Monument; located on Manda Island, a settlement dating back to AD1500 with the ruins of a great Mosque and a pillar tomb
- Shanga Ruins; an 8th century Swahili settlement, on Pate Island, containing the remains of 160 house's coral walls, two palaces, three mosques and hundreds of tombs
- The early Swahili settlement of Pate, once a great power in the region
- Numerous sites and monuments that showcase Swahili civilization at its height in the 15th century
- Lamu Donkey Sanctuary for the old and sick beast of burden.
- The dhow making village of Matondoni.