Malindi & Gedi Ruins Tour

Full Day Safari from Mombasa Island

(Gedi Historic Site is on the Mombasa-Malindi road, sixty-five miles from Mombasa and ten miles from Malindi. Drive north past Kilifi onto the ancient city of Gedi – Thereafter proceed to Malindi for lunch and an exploration of the Marine National Park in glass bottomed boat where you are taken goggling by an experienced guide. Later visit a nearby village and watch the Giriama tribe perform exciting tribal dances before driving back to Mombasa by sun down)

 

Ancient City of Gedi - A 13th Century Ruin

Crocodile Farm and Snake Park in Malindi

The Giriama Coastal Tribe of Kenya

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Malindi & Gedi Tour from Mombasa (Tour Duration: Full Day)

Malindi & Gedi Tour View Rates, Discounted Prices - Book & Save Now!

Malindi & Gedi Tour: Malindi & Gedi Tour takes you to Malindi across the new Mtwapa and Kilifi bridges to visit the Gedi ruins. Continue to Malindi and view marine life in a glass - bottom boat at the Marine Park. After lunch in a local restaurant visit the Snake Farm and the Falconry. En route to Mombasa stop at a local village to watch Giriama dancers.

 

Malindi & Gedi Tour Day Trip Highlights

* The glass boat ride in the marine park takes you out to sea, where you will be able to see some sensational fishes. If you wish, you can snorkel too

* For lunch, we make plans for you to visit Hemingways Hotel. Malindi used to be a popular spot for Ernest Hemingway

* Malindi was made famous after Vasco da Gama's stopover in 1498. In Malindi, you will see narrow alleys in the old part of town where the old houses have been lived in for centuries. One of the oldest East African churches still stands strong; the Church of St. Francis Xavier still stands strong across from Vasco da Gama's pillar, where he carved the Christian cross. Also extant is the Juma'a mosque, which was misused as a haven for slave trading until mid 1870's

* 12 miles from Malindi is the town of Gedi. Despite Gedi's close proximity to Malindi; it was never a focus of any European activity. In fact, Gedi was allegedly an invisible town never mentioned in any manuscripts or writing. Swahili Muslims established a mosque, homes and ran the town

 

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Malindi & Gedi Tour from Mombasa Rates/Prices

 

Notes

* Visit the town of Malindi

* Visit Malindi to see the Vasco da Gama's pillar in Malindi

* Visit the Malindi falconry that has a variety of caged birds of prey

* Ride out to sea in a glass bottom boat and lunch at Hemingways Hotel

* Visit the ruins of the 13th century Swahili village of Gede, lying south of Malindi. The Gede ruins, a 13th Century

 

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Malindi & Gedi Tour Day Trip Safari Itinerary

Malindi & Gedi Tour starts very early from Mombasa to Malindi town to catch up with the Marine Park trip from Watamu. After that you will proceed to Malindi town to see the Vasco da Gama pillar and then to Gedi Ruins on your way back to Mombasa in the afternoon.

 

Malindi is one of Kenya's coastal towns North of Mombasa. Just like Mombasa, Malindi holds a lot of history. Its scenic beauty and clean white beaches makes it one of the most visited towns. The Swahili people are the predominant culture found in Malindi. This is a multi-ethic city, a mixture of different culture and religious, a multi colored human rainbow, this is how Malindi can be presented. Down town and old center, the local market building and touristic resorts. Malindi is Kenyan beach holiday at all. Malindi is the liveliest and entertaining place along the coast, with its discos, restaurant and pubs night parties on the beach, the casino. Everything needed to make an unforgettable holiday.

 

Malindi was made famous after Vasco da Gama's stopover in 1498. In Malindi, you will see narrow alleys in the old part of town where the old houses have been lived in for centuries. One of the oldest East African churches still stands strong; the Church of St. Francis Xavier still stands strong across from Vasco da Gama's pillar, where he carved the Christian cross. Also extant is the Juma'a mosque, which was misused as a haven for slave trading until mid 1870's.

 

Gede Ruins is a 12th Century Swahili village that was mysteriously abandoned some 600 years ago due to unknown causes. It is now a National Museum, and the ruins are heavily overgrown with beautiful indigenous forest trees, baobabs and tamarind. Well worth a walk and a visit. Look out for Syke's Monkeys, and the Golden Rumped Elephant Shrew can also be seen here. A quiet, careful look in some of the old wells can turn out the odd owl, too. The tour of Malindi area will encompass a visit to the lost city of Gedi, the town of Malindi, a ride out to sea in a glass bottom boat and lunch at Hemingway’s Beach Resort or Turtle Bay Beach Resort before disembarking back to Mombasa.

 

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Gedi Ruins, Kenya (Explanation, Facts & History)

The historic site known as Gedi is on the Mombasa-Malindi road, sixty-five miles from Mombasa and ten miles from Malindi. It consists of the ruins of a fifteenth century Arab-African town, typical of a number of such towns up and down the coast of East Africa but the only one which is maintained as a place of public display. During your trip to Kenya for a safari, beach vacation or alternative adventure, a day historical or educational trip can be arranged.

 

Gedi is one of Kenya's great unknown treasures, a wonderful lost city lying in the depths of the great Arabuko Sokoke forest. It is also a place of great mystery, an archaeological puzzle that continues to engender debate among historians.

 

To this day, despite extensive research and exploration, nobody is really sure what happened to the town of Gedi and its peoples. This once great civilization was a powerful and complex Swahili settlement with a population of over 2500, built during the 13th century. The ruins of Gedi include many houses, mansions, mosques and elaborate tombs and cemeteries.

 

Despite the size and complexity of this large (at least 45 acre) settlement, it is never mentioned in any historic writings or local recorded history. The nearby Portuguese settlement at Malindi seems to have had no contact with, or even known of the existence of Gedi. The town has all the appearances of a trading outpost, yet its position, deep in a forest and away from the sea makes it an unlikely trading centre. What was Gedi trading, and with whom? But the greatest of all of Gedi's mysteries was its sudden and inexplicable desertion in the 17th century. The entire town was suddenly abandoned by all of its residents, leaving it to ruination in the forest. There are no signs of battle, plague, disturbance or any cause for this sudden desertion.

 

One current theory is that the town was threatened by the approach of the Galla, an inland tribe known to be outwardly hostile at that time, and that the townspeople fled ahead of their arrival. Yet once again, local recorded history fails to mention any such large scale evacuation at this time. No written account of either the rise or sudden fall of Gedi was ever made.

 

The ghostly ruins of Gedi lay within the forest that has overgrown and consumed the town. They had become a part of local folklore, regarded as a sinister lair of malevolent spirits, until archaeologists began to uncover the site in the 20th century. It was gazetted in 1948.

 

Today there is an excellent museum and well trained guides on hand to take visitors through the ruins. Gedi remains a mysterious and atmospheric place to visit. The pillars and stone walls, ruined mosques and tombs now lie among stands of trees. The stone floors are thick with leaves, and giant shrews scuttle through the deserted houses while birds and butterflies drift through the air.

 

Wandering through Gedi is an ideal way to spend a morning or afternoon, lost among the secrets of the past.

 

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Booking & Reservations for Malindi & Gedi Tour Day trip from Mombasa - Kenya

African Spice Safaris

Booking Office Tel: + 254 (0) 20 2437871

Email: info@africanspicesafaris.com

 

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