Mtoni Palace Ruins — Attraction in Zanzibar Urban/West

To wade through the history of Zanzibar move a little north towards Bububu and reach Mtoni Palace Ruins. It islocated just north of Maruhubi, built between 1828 and 1834 for Sultan Said. The land believed to be belonged to Saleh bin Haramil, the Arab trader who imported the first cloves to Zanzibar. Mtoni means ‘place by the river’. This is the oldest Palace in Zanzibar. Read the history before you are there. One of Sultan Said’s daughters, Princess Salme later took the name Emily Ruete in her book, describes Mtoni Palace in the 1850s and her life. Salama bint Said was born on 30 August 1844 and she spent her initial years in huge Mtoni Palace, 8km north of Stone Town. After parents death she moved to Kisimbani, one of her estates. Finally moving to Stone Town. Here she became close to her neighbor, a German merchant, Rudolph Heinrich Ruete (born 10 March 1839; died 6 August 1870) and became pregnant by him. She fled to Germany. Her memoirs give insight into the history of Zanzibar. Feel the history of beautiful Zanzibar with reading it and visiting the...

Fascinating ruins and history especially about Princess Salame who was born in 1844 and was favoured daughter of Said bin Sultan, the first sultan of Zanzibar (and also ruled as Sultan of Oman which is where he came from). The ruins are now in a poor state but enough remains to imagine the scene with the sultans large harem of consorts using the multiple baths, heated pools and sauna. Princess Salame before she died in Germany wrote extensively about the palace. Entrance is good value (note year 2024) at around 12000tsh for adults and 5000tsh for children. Nice team running the site who tell me that there are negotiations between Oman and Tanzanian governments about renovating the palace to it's original glory. Would be amazing to see if they ever manage to move...

This is a short tour around the ruins of the Mtoni Palace, overlooking the western beach, just north of Stone Town. Built in 1828, it housed the Sultan's only legal wife, very many secondary wives (maybe 98) and 120 children. You can see the aqueduct, bathing areas and passport size hole toilets. Clearly full of engineering feats, built before electrification. Would benefit from a small takeaway pamphlet being available, but a book could be purchased for about 35USD apparently. Reasonably small cost for tour, but best to pre-book so you don't have to...