The Gede Ruins are located in the town of Gede, a few kilometres from Watamu, and are the most important archaeological site in the area.

The excursion will take a few hours. We will depart from your hotel at around 4:00 PM towards the town of Gede and then arrive at the ruins of an ancient Arab town surrounded by a baobab forest. Here we will have a one-hour guided tour discovering: the Great Mosque, the royal palace, the tomb, the cistern house and the museum, where you can see the objects found in the houses dating back to the 13th century.

This forest is inhabited by many friendly little monkeys that you can play with before departing back towards your hotel at around 6:00 PM.

Architecture

The town was built from coral stone, with lime mortar and wood. Among its main structures were:

• Great mosques
• A palace
• Monumental tombs with pillars
• A sophisticated system of wells and canals for water supply

The Abandonment

Gede was abandoned at the beginning of the 17th century. Historians believe that the disappearance of the town was due to a combination of factors:

• Lowering of the water table;
• Raids by the Wazimba and the Galla (Oromo);
• The shifting of the main trade routes towards Mombasa and Malindi.