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TOURIST ATTRACTION:

Liwale: Selous Game Reserve:

Selous Game reserve is one of the largest protected areas in the world and runs in five regions of Tanzania, Coastal region, Lindi, Mtwara, Morogoro, and Ruvuma covering an area of nearly 50, 000 sq.kilometers.

Selous Game Reserve is a World Heritage Site. The name ‘Selous’ comes from a hunter-explorer Frederick Courtenay Selous, a naturalist and conservationist and a hunter. He was killed in the First World War in the Beho Beho region of the Reserve.

The reserve contains the world's largest concentrations of elephants, buffalo, crocodiles, and hippopotamuses. Other animals include leopard and wild dogs, as well as lions. The muddy Rufiji River is full of hippo and Massive crocodiles, variety of bird life: fish eagle, African Skimmer, waders, herons, kingfisher and weavers. Antelopes, white bearded wildebeest and giraffes are commonly seen around the river.

Rufiji River:

Rufiji river is the largest river in Tanzania, which contains a spectacular array of plants, and animals. The river is formed by the convergence of the Kilombero and Luwegu rivers. It is approximately 600 km (375 mi) long, with its source in southwestern Tanzania and its mouth on the Indian Ocean. Its principal tributary is the Great Ruaha River. The river flows through the Selous game reserve.

HISTORICAL KILWA:

Kilwa was once the most prosperous trading city on the southern coast of Tanzania, which has the largest group of pre-colonial ruins in East Africa.  

In Kilwa Kisiwani: there are greatest collection of ruins. Directly on the Northern shore one will find the old Omani Fort, which is built on the foundations of the old Portuguese fort, in the early 19th Century, and where still an old wooden door remains. The Big Mosque is from the 12th Century and was further extended up to the 15th Century. It was said to be the largest mosque in East Africa. All the way to the east of the island there are the ground walls of the "Husuni Kubwa", once the largest building in tropical Africa.The small mosque from the 15th Century is the best kept building on the island, and still in use today.  

Kilwa Kivinje: It was, in the 19th Century an Arabian slave, gold and ivory trading town, where caravans started off into the interior. The wealth brought in by the gold trade meant that Kilwa had its own mint and was the only place in sub-Saharan Africa to issue coins. In 1332 the city was visited by Ibn Battuta who decribed it as one of the most beautiful and best-constructed towns he had visited. The wealth of Kilwa was legendary and it was mentioned by Milton in 'Paradise Lost' where it is called 'Quiloa'.

With the end of the Arab time at the end of the 19th century, the German colonial government built a fort and extended the town. From German times one can still find a Market Hall, the big Fort with a canon from the 1st World war, and two pillars one for the tribal dead of the Maji Maji War fought between the local tribes of Southern Tanzania and the German Colonial government and the other for two German traders also killed during the same war.

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