Celebrating the Partners & Wins of Bahari Yetu Festival 2025

2 days ago
3 min read

As the year progresses, we are activating our annual ocean festival mode, and cannot help but reminisce on the Bahari Yetu Festival 2025. The stories shared, marine-themed competitions, and entertainment sessions are such colourful memories! Which local organisations and groups made the day so colourful, and how did the community benefit?

Let’s walk down memory lane together and answer these questions, as well as give you a sneak peek into what to expect this year. Shall we?

Stalls at Bahari Yetu Festival 2025

Davis & Shirtliff: the leading supplier of water-related equipment in East Africa. Besides engaging with the community about solar-powered equipment, they donated an outboard engine and solar fridge to 2 BMUs!
Conservation Photography Exhibition: underwater photos taken by the talented Jahawi Bertolli, a NatGeo Explorer and co-founder of the festivals’ partner East African Ocean Explorer. The photos were exhibited at Alliance Française Mombasa and Nairobi in 2024, and you can find them this year at the Embassy of Italy in Kenya.
MTAMAREI (Mtangawanda Mangrove Restoration Initiative): A successful women-led CBO that showcased nursery mangroves. With support from Daughters for Earth, we are now working with the MTAMAREI group to build a boardwalk and a community resource centre in Mtangawanda.
SERG (Shela Environmental Residence Group): the lead organization in matters of waste management of Shela, Lamu Island.
The FlipFlopi: An East African movement on a mission to end single-use plastic and ensure all other plastics are part of a circular economy.
Bahari Water: A company using technology to harness the ocean for a water-secure future. They donated merchandise that was prized for the winners of the kids’ competitions.
Safarilink Aviation: Kenya's premier safari airline with a network of connecting domestic scheduled services to all the best safari destinations within Kenya.
Safari Doctors: a women-led, youth-powered organisation working towards better health outcomes across remote coastal and border- region communities. They were on standby to provide first-aid medical services.
LaMCoT: the hosts! We exhibited the different programs we are running concurrently, including the Kinyika JCMA Project, Iweni Project, Waste Management Program, Education & Awareness Program, and Turtle Protection Program. We also had cute merchandise sponsored by Peponi Hotel , as well as sea turtle games.

Prizes Addressing Community Needs

Every year at the festival we award competition winners and outstanding members of the community, but the criteria of 2025 stood out as we were addressing their needs directly. Guided by the theme of the festival that translates to ‘Protect Our Ocean, Protect Lives’, we aim to continuously protect livelihoods as we conserve.

Championship	Position 1	Position 2
*Best BMUs of 10*	Mkunumbi BMU - Outboard Engine donated by Davis & Shirtliff	Mashundwani BMU - Solar Fridge donated by Davis & Shirtliff
*Waste Management*	Mwajumwa Karisa - Solar lights	Ismaili Bashora - Cap & BYF Bottle
*Best Data Collectors of 20*	Ibrahim Masuo - cooler box	Mohamed Ali - Drybag
*Turtle Conservation*	Mzee Hassan - Solar Lights	Hussein - Cap

So far, the prizes awarded have been essential tools for conservation and livelihoods in the following aspects:

Enforcement: The outboard engine won by Mkunumbi BMU is now actively used by members to conduct ocean patrols; a direct solution to a need raised during our sensitisation meetings in their village.
Cold Chain & Value: Solar fridges won by Ndambwe BMU (won in 2024) and Mashundwani BMU (won in 2025), as well as the cooler box won by our top-performing data collector, are used to preserve fish quality once they leave the landing sites, increasing their market value.

The top 3 school environmental kindness clubs from our education program were awarded as well, with fun excursions - sign up to our mailing list and get to read about them as soon as our next BYF blog drops!

Bahari Yetu Festival 2026 is cooking!

Drums have already started beating for the Bahari Yetu Festival 2026. The theme for the 2-day event will be ‘Voices of The Ocean’ (Sauti za Bahari), and here is what’s in store that has got us excited!

Photography Workshop in partnership with TonyWild Foundation
Cinematography Lab for filmmakers in partnership with NEWF
A musical–like day in honour of the voices of the ocean.
Talks around Kinyika Seasonal Closure.

As we prepare, here is what we encourage you to do:

Stay tuned on our website, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn for more updates
Make preparations to attend: it will take place early October - exact dates to be communicated soon
Check out the 2026 festival proposal, which details festival expenses and the 3 pre-festival workshops (Photography, Cinematography & Ocean Literacy).
Support us in cash or in kind.
Email us at info@lamcot.org in case you would like more information or to support us in any way.
Partner with us, like the following sponsors and partners have done in the past.