Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
to Songo Songo (about Tsh2000) and to Mafia (about Tsh6000), although for Mafia, it's
much better to take a bus up the coast towards Dar es Salaam and get a boat at Nyamisati.
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SONGO SONGO
Coconut palms, low shrub vegetation, about 3500 locals, lots of birds, a good beach and a
major natural-gas field that is being exploited as part of the Songo Songo Gas to Electricity
Project are the main attractions on this 4-sq-km island. Together with several surrounding
islets, it forms the Songo Songo Archipelago, an ecologically important area for nesting
sea turtles and marine birds. The surrounding waters also host an impressive collection of
hard and soft corals. The archipelago, together with the nearby Rufiji River delta, the Mafia
Archipelago and the coastline around Kilwa Masoko have been declared a Wetland of In-
ternational Importance under the Ramsar Convention. The best beach is in Songo Songo's
southeastern corner, reached through a coconut plantation. There are no tourist facilities on
the island.
Songo Songo lies about 30km northeast of Kilwa Kivinje, from where it can be reached
by dhow in about 3½ hours with favourable winds. There are also frequent charter flights
in connection with the gas project; check with Dar es Salaam-based air charter operators,
or Coastal Aviation, which occasionally stops here on its Kilwa-Mafia run.
Lindi
POP 42,000
In its early days, Lindi was part of the Sultan of Zanzibar's domain, a terminus of the slave
caravan route from Lake Nyasa, regional colonial capital, and the main town in southeast-
ern Tanzania. The abolishment of the slave trade and the rise of Mtwara as a local hub sent
Lindi into a slow decline, from which it has yet to recover, although it again moved briefly
into the limelight in the early 20th century when dinosaur bones were discovered nearby.
Today, Lindi is a lively, pleasant place and worth wandering around for a day or so to get
a taste of life on the coast. Its small dhow port still bustles with local coastal traffic, a smat-
tering of carved doorways and crumbling ruins line the dusty streets, and a Hindu temple
and Indian merchants serve as a reminder of once-prosperous trade routes to the east.
Salt production is the main local industry, announced by the salt flats lining the road into
town. There's also a sisal plantation in Kikwetu, near the airfield. The coral reef running
from south of Lindi to Sudi Bay hosts abundant marine life, and the site has been proposed
as a possible protected marine area.
