Kaole Ruins

Two medieval mosques and 13th-century Shirazi tombs in the bush south of Bagamoyo

The Kaole ruins are the remains of a medieval Swahili trading town that flourished from the 13th to the 16th centuries, several hundred years before the rise of Bagamoyo. Two coral-stone mosques still stand, partly roofed by their own ancient mangrove timbers, and around them lie the carved pillar tombs that are the architectural signature of Shirazi Islam on the East African coast.

The site is in open bush about 5 km south of Bagamoyo, with a small site museum at the entrance. A guide is included with the ticket and worth taking — much of the meaning is in the carved decoration that you would otherwise miss. Allow ninety minutes including the museum. The largest tombs are 13th century and pre-date almost everything else on the coast outside Kilwa.

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A story
Kaole was a wealthy Shirazi trading town long before Bagamoyo existed. By the time the Portuguese arrived in the early 1500s, Kaole already had brick mosques, coral-stone houses, and a network of trade routes reaching Persia and India. Its sudden decline in the 16th century — the cause is still debated — left the town almost forgotten until German archaeologists began clearing the bush around 1900.