Kilwa Kisiwani

For several centuries Kilwa was the greatest of the Swahili city states, controlling the gold trade that came up from Sofala and minting its own coins, and the traveller Ibn Battuta, who saw a great deal of the medieval world, called it one of the finest cities he had visited. What remains on the island, a World Heritage Site, is extraordinary and almost entirely unvisited: the Great Mosque with its many domes and coral-stone columns, one of the oldest standing mosques on the coast, the huge cliff-top palace complex of Husuni Kubwa with its octagonal bathing pool looking out to sea, later Omani and Portuguese fortifications, and tombs scattered through the scrub. You cross from the mainland in a small boat, walk the ruins with a guide through baobabs and goats, and are quite likely to be the only visitors there.

Highlights

• The Great Mosque - the domed coral-stone mosque, among the oldest on the coast.
• Husuni Kubwa - the cliff-top palace with its octagonal pool above the sea.
• The fort - the later fortifications guarding the harbour.
• The crossing - the small-boat trip over from Kilwa Masoko.

When to go

June to October is the dry season, best for the road south and the boat crossing; the rains make the long drive from Dar es Salaam slow and the crossing choppier. Permits are issued in Kilwa Masoko and it is worth arranging the boat and guide the day before.

Good to know

Getting there is the whole difficulty: a long drive south from Dar es Salaam, then a permit obtained on the mainland, then a small boat, and there is essentially no infrastructure on the island itself, so bring water and sun protection. Ruins are unrestored and partly consolidated, with vegetation growing through them. In exchange you get one of the great sites of the Indian Ocean world almost entirely to yourself.

Nearby

Kilwa Masoko's beaches and the Songo Mnara ruins on a neighbouring island are close; Dar es Salaam is a long day north.