Bongoyo marine reserve

Sunday Adventures: Bongoyo Marine Islands

Posted: Monday May 22, 2006 4:27 PM BT

By Jaston Kenan Kalagho

 ( A view Bongoyo island in Dar es salaam Photo by Kenan Kalagho)
The precious Bongoyo Marine Islands on the Indian Ocean in Tanzania opens old wounds of slavery and war. On the Bongoyo Marine Islands lie all races, of our fore fathers from all walks of life. It might be a chance for you to learn about your ancestors on the islands. Jaston Kenan Kalagho, a journalist with Procurement News Magazine in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania shares the story with us.

Bongoyo has a vast sandy area for sun bathing after a dive in the Indian Ocean waters. The only draw back is the scarcity of huts for shelter after hot sunny hours on the island.

(Tourists ready to  embark the boat on their way back from bongoyo Photo by Kenan Kalagho)
Hundreds of people from all over the world come here to discover and experience the tales of German troops who, not only fought in World War 1 and left, but built a monument to remind people of their presence on the island.

Tourists are not allowed to spend a night on the island-lying10 kilometers off the north coast of Dar es Salaam. To reach the Island, one has to use a boat.
I started visiting the nearest Bongoyo Island, having heard of its old standing German House.

( Tourists enjoying the view and shades at Bongoyo island in Dar es salaam Photo by Kenan Kalagho)
I had heard about Bongoyo a long time ago when I was still a Form One secondary school student at Khondowe in Northern Malawi where Dr David Livingstone, like these Germans, left his marks by building a secondary school, hospital, the Chapel House and the Stone House-now being used as a museum and a camping site for tourists visiting the place.

Khondowe, standing 900 meters above Lake Malawi, is now called Livingstonia after David Livingstone unlike these islands in Tanzania which have traditional names.

On the other side of Bongoyo Island Marine Reserve lies a beautiful beach which is silent all the time. Though not a popular tourist attraction, it has magnets of its own, like a vast sandy area where people can warm themselves after cooling their bodies in the ocean.

I have always wanted to see how the German House at Bongoyo Island looks and the style these people had in mind. I couldn't, therefore, resist walking through the two-hour foot path in the thick Bongoyo Forest with only sound waves and birds to keep me company as I made my way to the memorial building.

The building, founded many years ago by unknown fishermen before the Marine Park Reserve of Tanzania took control of the islands, still stands firm and thick in the face of hard blowing winds from the ocean.

Standing on the island, the German House reminds tourists of the German leader Adolf Hitler, especially those who have read the Diary of Anne Frank which talks about the ill-treatment of Jews in concentration camps.

The diary gave me a minute to think of how cruel these troops might also have been during the World War 1 from 1914-1918 as I looked at the caves which have a capacity to hold more than 800 people.

It is difficult to imagine how these caves were dug on this hard rock. Unlike on the other island of Mbudya, the only interesting features I saw on this island were the two old and dilapidated graves surrounded by an arc of five baobab trees.

The tombs on Mbudya Island attract more than just tourists. Witch doctors, artists and soccer teams are also attracted for what tour guide Pius Majembe explained as good fortune.

While on my way to the other island of Pangavile and Funguyasine, I was stopped and told that "tourists are not allowed to set their foot on the islands." Thus, I had to proceed to Sinda Island where most of the known history of Tanzania concerning the coastal area is well recorded.

The Tanzania interior has a number of important pre-historic sites, like the infamous Olduvai Gorge where the first remains of early man were discovered by Dr Leaky. Unfortunately, more attention has been drawn to the coast where the Arabs established trading posts since the first century AD to en-route slaves and other products from the interior.

Sinda Island is not left out from history. I had an opportunity to set off from Sunrise Beach Resort to the island in the middle of April as part of my tour of the five Marine Islands.

On the way, I was directed by Waunga Issa, a boat captain of Sunrise Beach Resort. It will cost you US$50 (K7,000) to travel from the resort to the island and US$11 (K1,540) and US$9 (K1,260) from Sea Cliff Hotel to Bongoyo and Mbudya Islands respectively.

A 30-minute cruise from the beach resort leads you to the beautiful Sinda Island with a number of pre-historic slave buildings.

At the beautiful Sinda Beach lies an ancient hut with very thick walls. The structure, constructed with six rooms and windows, is believed to have been built in the 14th century during the slave trade period.

"This hut is believed to have been storage for captured slaves from Central and Western Tanzania by Arabs before being sent to Zanzibar and transported to the Middle East and Europe," said Issa, who seemed to know a bit of history.

Inside, there was a vast hollow in the middle of one open room. This hollow had a tunnel dug from underground and connected to yet another vast hollow outside the building from where a slave on sale could be singled out and make an appearance to the buyers by passing through the underground tunnel.

Outside the house there is a huge hole with four corners connected to another tunneled underground from where slave guards could keep watch in case slaves escaped.

However, the only thing that will upset you here is that there are no footpaths leading to these old memorial houses. One has to put up with insect bite and thorns in order to reach these points. This is discouraging, especially to a first visitor.

( A view Bongoyo island in Dar es salaam Photo by Kenan Kalagho)
Looking at the house, I was reminded of terrible stories about the treatment of slaves by the Arabs when, as primary school pupils, we were taught about slave trade and how slaves were captured and sent to the Middle East and Europe to work in plantations.

These century old huts, the underground tunnels, the caves and the huge hole outside the house at the island make you recall all the ancient history, especially when you gallop along another small ancient hut believed to be the house of a Sultan, said to have been a slave major trade merchant.

It is believed that the Sultan came and settled here for more than 30 years during the slave trade era. History has it that between 7th and 10th century, some Arabs began to take advantage of their established familiarity with East Africa.

I have been to many places like Ngorongoro and other areas in Tanzania but one unique thing about Marine Islands is that tour guides hardly ask you for anything for the services rendered.

The Marine Islands, with their beautiful beaches, are rich in history. You can visit the islands at any time except from December to May. As I was heading back via the Sunrise Beach Resort, flashbacks about our grand parents, who fell into the hands of Arabs, kept nagging me. I shed tears.