Traditions and Twists
Once a breathtaking sight, the pristine beach on Kenya’s Lamu Island has become a trash receptacle that endangers the island’s fauna.
But where the Kenyan government failed to get rid of the trash, locals found a solution: Making dhows, or traditional boats.
One of the island’s residents, Ben Morrison, fashioned the idea out of his love for the beach. He also wanted to find a substitute for the felled trees normally used to construct the traditional rafts.
“It is getting harder and harder for boat builders to find wood. I hope that this project will allow the ancient skills of boat building to live on, by shifting from ever-scarce wood to plastic,” he toldReuters.
Locals now melt down discarded bottles into planks for the vessel. It’s a tedious process, as the materials aren’t always reliable. Builders sometimes have to scrap their constructions and start from scratch.
Even so, the islanders are set on completing one of these ships, which they’ll race in South Africa after its completion.
Now that’s tradition with a twist.
Click here to see the making of the boat.
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