The Shimoni caves

Shimoni signifies, literally, “the place of the caves”. This is due to the presence of some huge caves under the center of town. But, before continuing, let me give you a short briefing in geology: long ago, this part of the coast, as well as Pemba and Zanzibar islands, were underwater, and covered with coral reefs. With time, this reefs emerged, and their rest formed a particular kind of soil called “coral rag”, characteristic of this area. This kind of geological ground has numerous caves, and other features, like the fact that the soil can never develop too much, being rarely thicker than 20 cm. Hence, the forest trees cannot grow too high, and their own weight will eventually throw them down.

And we come back to the caves below Shimoni. These caves have a regrettable legend and history behind them, and they tell us something about an often ignored part of the history of this part of the continent. During not so long ago, on the days of the Zanzibari sultanate, slave trade was one of the main sources of richness and trade for the Swahili people, who embarked on long trips far inland from which they returned charged with ivory and human cargo. Before embarking towards Zanzibar, these hopeless souls were “stored”, without any food and only salt water to drink, in these caves, were many of them often starved to the death after a strenuous trip on foot from their original land. Chains in the walls are mute witnesses of this tragedy.

Nowadays, however, the only beings that use these caves are several species of bats. And the people from the village offer guided tours through the caves, where they tell the visitors about the history of their village and slavery. And all the obtained profits are invested in medicines for the local dispensary and aids to the schools and other community projects, serving to pretty different purposes than those of 150 years ago!