A short boat trip from Kilwa Masoko, is the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Ruins of Kilwa Kisiwani. In Medievel times Shirazi Arabs from modern day Iraq, founded Kilwa Kisiwani as a trading port to bring gold from Greater Zimbabwe. As they amassed huge fortunes Kilwa grew to be one of the largest southern hemisphere cities with a 100 roomed palace, open-air swimming pool and own gold mint – it has been estimated that over a quarter of all gold used in Europe at the time was minted on Kisiwani.

The fortunes of Kilwa changed as other gold sources were discovered and the city was eventually ransacked by Vasco de Gama, the Portuguese explorer. As the city declined to the village we see now its one legacy as the gateway to the Islamisation of the east African coast and as the birthplace of Swahili culture still remains.

Guided tours are now possible and the ruins are currently being stabilised with help from the Japanese and French governments.

Kivinje, the final Kilwa, is on a natural bay and was chosen as the German administrative capital of the Kilwa region. The large 4 storied administrative office still remains as do the official cannons. Kivinje also bears witness to a grimmer aspect of German colonisation. The Mwembe Kinyonga memorial was built by the town’s inhabitants on the site where Tanzanian participants in the Maji-Maji rebellion were hanged. This uprising took place at the turn of the twentieth- century and sowed the seeds of Tanzanian Independence.

Accommodation at Kilwa, Tanzania