The coast

 

Dar es Salaam

 

Dar es Salaam harbours one of the finest natural habitats in the world, while it is still a  busy port and economic center. It is also   fascinating and colorful place to visit. Dhows Still ply its water, dug outs full of fish, pop by the harbour. The city displays a lot of influential historical displays of the past, this include a barvarain style German railway station ,the Hindu temples & the St. Joseph catholic cathedral just to mention a few, the St Joseph R.C Church. The house of craft or" nyumba ya sanaa" in Swahili ( the language of the nation)

 

Bagamoyo

About 75 km north of Dar es Salaam, on the coast line opposite the island of Zanzibar, lies the former capital of German East Africa, the small town of Bagamoyo, this town was also once a notorious center for slave trade.

It's major attractions include: it's main police force which was in the past the old prison were slaves were herded trough the underground tunnels to awaiting dhows.

European Explorers Livingstone, Stanley, Burton and Speke on their way to searching the source of River Nile all used this town as their starting point.

The first catholic mission in east and central Africa was built here in 1868, where Livingstone's body was laid before being taken to England Via Zanzibar.

The mission has a museum with a collection of photographs and memos relating to Dr. Livingstone and the German colonial era.

The House where Henry Morton lived can be seen on the beach in it's solitary splendour.

The Kaole ruins which were once a prosperous town of Arabians are found on the southern part of this town, there are several mosques and graveyards indicating Kaole's past importance.

Mafia

The beautiful island of Mafia located south of the coast of Dar es salaam  is just a  40 minutes flight away. This island is one of the most exciting big game fishing and diving areas in the word. Sports fisherman flock this island for superb catches of great fighting fish.

Fish species found here include; marlin, sailfish, shark, tunny, kingfish, barracuda, snapper, horse, mackerel, wahoo and huge rock cod.

other attractions in this island include: an excavated 13th century mosques and some Chinese pottery fragments found here. Also skirmish bullet holes from the 1st world war between Britain and German can be spotted in some palm trees.

The best fishing season is usually from September to March though it is possible throughout to fish throughout the Year.

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