A Swahili town of coral stone, abandoned around 1600 and swallowed by forest: mosques and houses under baobabs, with monkeys in the canopy.
Gede was a prosperous Swahili town of coral-stone houses and mosques, trading with Arabia, India and China. Around 1600 its people left, for reasons still debated, and the forest closed over it.
Today the ruins lie inside the edge of the Arabuko-Sokoke forest. Paths lead between the great mosque, a palace with its courtyards, deep wells and pillar tombs, all shaded by baobabs and figs.
Sykes monkeys watch from the canopy, and the site museum shows Chinese porcelain and beads found in the houses.
It is about 90 minutes north of Mombasa, near Watamu, and pairs well with the forest or the beach.
A shaded loop of an hour or two.
Finds from the town: porcelain, beads and coins.
Pass the pillar tombs on the way into the town.
The coral-stone walls of the main mosque.
The grandest house, with its arched entrance.
Linger under the trees and look up for the monkeys.
Drive or matatu north towards Malindi; turn off at Gede village near Watamu.
Pay the National Museums of Kenya fee at the gate.
Photographs from Wikimedia Commons and Pexels under their licences.
