Chokocho Historical Site

The place this coast calls Chokocho is the protected site of Kichokochwe — Magofu ya mji wa Kale wa Kichokochwe — on a tidal islet in Wete District, Pemba North. A Swahili fishing settlement of coral rag stood here from the seventeenth century until the twentieth. What remains is the mosque, on the highest ground, and a small cemetery of stone tombs just to the east. The site covers about five hectares. It is a national historic site, held by the Tanzanian government and cared for by the Antiquities Division. It is listed as endangered.

The mosque is still readable: a crenellated wall, pointed arches, a mihrab. Archaeologists recorded a Chinese blue-and-white bowl, probably Kangxi and of the early eighteenth century, set into that mihrab — a fishing village still tied to the Indian Ocean. The graves are low stone enclosures. A pillar tomb carries inset panels. A new roof now shelters the prayer hall and the tombs, and palms stand where the houses were. Walk it with a host from the shore. Dress modestly. Do not climb the walls or stand on the graves. The day is the ruin, the cemetery, and the islet at the tide.