Not in the Wind - but the set of the sail.

I took this photo on 16th January 2014 - from the comfort of my chalet at Kipungani Explorer - Lamu Island

Ever since I was young, I have always been fascinated by water. I enjoy being beside large masses of water. I visited Indian Ocean countless times while in school until I decided to just settle at the coast anyway! I have been to many lakes in Kenya including remote places such as Eliye Springs by the shores of Lake Turkana. I have traveled across oceans and laid back in the backwaters of Kerala in south India and imagined I had seen it all. But none has fascinated and captured my imagination with such intensity as the backwaters of the western side of Lamu island – Kipungani.

Located on the ancient Arabian Island –paradise of lamu, Kipungani is one of Africa’s most remote, relaxing and richly romantic coastal place I have ever been. For this place indeed  oozes with absolute seduction.

It is impossible not to fall in love with Kipungani and its irresistible combination of luxury and view of the sublime mangrove far across. In between watching wind driven dhows moving in opposite direction. But what caught my imagination in my very first evening of sun downer is the sail on the boat and how it works. What a lesson indeed?  Consciously I took a photo. Little did I know at the subconscious level there was something deeper cooking in my quests to learn the little things of life.

In the process of living, the winds of circumstances blow on us all in an unending flow that touches each of our lives.…

It is the set of the sails, not the direction of the wind that determines which way we will go.

What guides us to different destinations in life is determined by the way we have chosen to set our sail. The way that each of us thinks makes the major difference in where each of us arrive. The major difference is the set of the sail.

The same circumstances happen to us all. We have disappointments and challenges. We all have reversals and those moments when, in spite of our best plans and efforts, things just seem to fall apart.…In the final analysis, it is not what happens that determines the quality of our lives, it is what we choose to do when we have struggled to set the sail and then discover, after all of our efforts, that the wind has changed directions. In one of the sun-downer trip, on our way back – the captain had to reposition the sail so that the wind could take us through against itself.

I’m glad I paid attention to the sails. For at Kinpungani one is privileged to be both the observed and an observer of the little things in life.

Idyllic and enchanting. These words aptly describe Kipungani Explorer as an exclusive haven. The place indeed oozes with seduction and peace.

know therefore brethren - It is the set of the sails, not the direction of the wind that determines which way we will go.