Copyright © 2006 Wildness Safari (T) Ltd
All rights reserved
BAGAMOYO
Lies 70 kms north of Dar es salaam. It was the former capital of German East Africa colony and also was starting point of the slave caravan routes and also the terminus of the white missionaries. Like Burton Speke, Stanley Livingstone.
Bagamoyo has natural harbour for sailing vessels and dhow
Historical sites to be visited: Kaole ruins, German Museum, German State house, the old market, Caravan sarai, the old fort, Arabic tea house, crocodile farm, 1st East African post office and 1st East African Secondary School.
PANGANI
At the point where the massive Pangani River empties itself into the Indian Ocean, a village has grown. The Pangani River passes through the north side of the town, separating the old buildings and the present-day market from the farms and small houses on the south side. The river itself requires a ferry to cross, its dark brown waters heavy with alluvial silt as it meanders slowly into the ocean. On either side of the little town, coconut palms and sisal plantations undulate towards the horizon.
Once a centre of Swahili trade with the African mainland, the town of Pangani is now a sleepy backwater that little remembers its days of splendour.
The old German administrative boma still stands behind a colonade of tall shade trees and the former prison, painted a fading ochre red, looks over the river's lazy waters. Old houses along the main road offer lived-in examples of colonial and traditional Swahili architecture, the buildings slowly crumbling against the monsoon winds. Visitors passing through the area would do well to explore what remains of the old town on foot. Even a short walk rewards visitors with a glimpse of quiet life in the old trading towns along the Swahili Coast.
KILWA
Along the southern coast of Tanzania, the ancient ruins of Kilwa Kisiwani give themselves slowly to the encroaching jungle and the relentless cycles of the tide. Once the very epicentre of Swahili culture and civilization, all that is left of Kilwa Kisiwani are the old building blocks of the town -- fire baked limestone, coral blocks, a few shattered tiles. Nothing else remains except the lush coconuts and old trees that give witness to habitation here many years ago.
During its heyday in the 13th to 15th century, trade with Sofala in Mozambique, India to the east, and Arabia to the north propelled Kilwa's fortunes to unbelievable heights. Together with the nearby ruins of Songo Mnara, archaeologists and historians consider Kilwa one of the most important sites of Swahili civilization in the region.
The ruins of Kilwa Kisiwani were once the centre of trade along the entire East African coast and the driving force behind the complex networks of trade caravans and dhow expeditions that encouraged the Swahili to thrive and prosper.
The coral and limestone walls of the old mosque, sultans' palaces, and merchants' houses are all the more sumptuous in their rather dilapidated state - fig tree roots weave in and out of old windows and the rustle of the ocean palms never far away.
Below are few selected lodges which are available in and around Bagamoyo.
Below are few selected lodges which are available in and around Pangani.
Below are few selected lodges which are available in and around Kilwa.