The Biggest Island in Kenya : Pate Island is the biggest island in Kenya, which is located in the Indian Ocean close to the northern coast of Kenya. Pate Island is a tourism safari destination and it is almost surrounded completely with the mangroves on the land and the coral reefs on the shore. Pate Island is between the towns of Lamu and Kiunga, which is close to the border with Somalia. Pate Island do occupy other several settlements or towns and these are the major attractions in Pate Island that includes Faza, Siyu, Kizingitini and Shanga. Where Faza town, on the North coast, dates back to the 13th Century, when it was almost destroyed by the Pate army and it was later resettled and then dealt the same blow in 1587 by the Portuguese. The island is located in the Lamu Archipelago.
Next to the Pate island there is Pate town which is well known as the fine house the town attracts a variety of tourists in the town, the town is well equipped with fine arts, fine clothes, plaster works, fine wooden furniture, this gives the best moments to the tourists on their safari and this has made Pate a centre of learning and trading to add on that Pate is known as the production of the most famous musical instruments and the use of musical instrument which is called Siwa and this is so common in Kenya in fact on your Kenya safari visit the Lamu museum you will find the instrument there.
From the century, the Pate Island was an early site of the Arabic colonization, it is long vied as a Swahili port with Lamu and with Takwa on Manda Island and came to prominence around the fourteenth century, but it was implemented by Lamu in the nineteenth century. Pate Island is the Africans of Chinese descent on Kenya’s Pate Island, Pate Island has the Chinese roots that is the island has the links to Chinese sea explorers and the shipwrecks, so Kenya coast which is through the Pate Island is a descent of the Chinese sailors. The Chinese sailors that survived the shipwreck swam ashore and were allowed to stay on the island after killing a python that had been troubling a village.
Pate island is having the important archaeological site, Shanga situated on the south-east coast of the Pate island, it was excavated during an eight year period, starting in 1980, the earliest settlement was dated to the eight century and the conclusion came from the archeological evidence with the locally minted coins, burials which indicates that the small number of the local inhabitants were the Muslims eventually from the eight century up to onwards, therefore Shanga is a full day safari trip and it must be planned at the high tide.
Then the Chinese Ming sailors had to marry the children of the native women, converted them to Islam and created a community of the African-Chinese whose descendants still live on the Island of Pate, the Pate’s Island in Kenya is a Chinese tradition has an ancient links to Africa, even at the Pate island there is an ancient graveyard made out of the coral, they are graves of the Chinese sailors that died in the shipwreck.
Pate Island china girl named Mwamaka Sharifu is recognized as the most famous descendant of the shipwreck Chinese sailors, she is well known at the Pate Island finally she was even rewarded a scholarship in 2005 to a Chinese University where she purchased and studied traditional Chinese medicine.
Pate Island is an interesting and attractive Island in Kenya with the loved activities that are offered to the tourists like the camping safari, sightseeing various features found in the island, swimming, hangout places are provided to the tourists to enjoy from on their safari at the island.
