Zaria divides naturally into the old walled city of Zazzau and the modern university town. The old city rewards slow exploration on foot — the lanes around the Emir's Palace and the Great Mosque are dense with traditional Hausa mud-brick architecture that has barely changed in centuries. Gidan Makama Museum offers the best introduction to the history of the ancient emirate. Ahmadu Bello University, just outside the old city, brings a different energy: a vast green campus and one of the most important institutions in West Africa.