Northeastern Tanzania - Tanzania - page 235

come down on every one, American, English or Turk, who will help to heal this
open sore of the world.'
SIGHTS & ACTIVITIES
Bagamoyo Town HISTORIC SITE
With its cobwebbed portals, crumbling German-era colonial buildings and alleyways where
the sounds of children playing echo together with the footsteps of history, central
Bagamoyo , or Mji Mkongwe (Stone Town) as it's known locally, is well worth exploration.
The most interesting area is along Ocean Rd. Here, you'll find the old German boma ,
built in 1897; a school , which dates to the late 19th century and was the first multiracial
school in what is now Tanzania; and Liku House , which served as the German admin-
istrative headquarters. On the beach is the German Customs House (1895), Bagamoyo's
port , where you can watch boat builders at work, and a busy fish market (on the site of
the old slave market), with lively auctions most afternoons. Northwest of here are sever-
al small streets lined with carved doors similar to those found elsewhere along the coast.
Further south near the old Badeco Beach hotel is the mid-19th-century Old Fort . There is
a Tsh2000 per person fee levied to walk around the old town, payable at the Antiquities
branch office at the Old Fort, or at the main Antiquities office at the Caravan Serai Mu-
seum ( 9am-6pm) , just past CRDB bank at the town entrance. Regardless of where you
pay, the fee also includes admission to the Caravan Serai Museum, which has a small dis-
play documenting the slave trade.
Holy Ghost Catholic Mission MUSEUM
( 023-244 0010; adult/student Tsh2000/500; 10am-5pm) About 2km north of town
and reached via a long, mango-shaded avenue is this mission, with the excellent Catholic
Museum - one of Bagamoyo's highlights and an essential stop. In the same compound
is the chapel where Livingstone's body was laid before being taken to Zanzibar Town en
route to Westminster Abbey. The mission dates from the 1868 establishment of Freedom
Village and is the oldest in Tanzania.
Kaole Ruins RUINS
(adult/student Tsh2000/500; 8am-4pm Mon-Fri, to 5pm Sat & Sun) Just south of
Bagamoyo are these atmospheric ruins. At their centre are the remains of a 13th-century
mosque, which is one of the oldest in mainland Tanzania and also one of the oldest in East
Africa. It was built in the days when the Sultan of Kilwa held sway over coastal trade, and
long before Bagamoyo had assumed any significance. Nearby is a second mosque, dating