Torturous journey to the house where Kenya’s onslaught on Al Shabaab started

The House Mary Dedieu occupied on Manda Island. Her abduction on October 2012, and subsequent death contributed to KDF decision to raid Lamu. [PHOTOS: JOE OMBUOR/STANDARD]

Ground zero of the Al Shabaab terror attacks on Kenya that have claimed hundreds of lives and injured legions since 2012 sits metres away from the salty laps of the Indian Ocean waves hugged by one of the finest beaches in the Lamu archipelago.

Here, next to the posh Majlis Resort at Ras Kitau Bay on Manda Island and overlooking the picturesque Shela Beach that has played host to celebrities such as Monaco’s Princess Caroline, Naomi Campbell and Robert De Nero sits a humdrum bungalow or banda walled with reeds and thatched with palm leaves dubbed makuti .