Gede Ruins

The Gede Ruins are the remains of a 13th-century Swahili town hidden in the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest behind Watamu, abandoned mysteriously in the 17th century. The site includes a palace, mosque, pillar tombs, and houses built from coral rag and lime, overgrown with baobabs and strangler figs. Archaeological finds of Chinese porcelain, Venetian glass beads, and Spanish scissors reveal a town that traded across the Indian Ocean. A raised boardwalk and guided trail wind through the ruins, and Sykes' monkeys and golden-rumped elephant shrews are regularly seen among the fallen walls.