Down the main coastal highway south of Ukunda, GAZI is a sleepy little village just off the road. It was once headquarters of the Mazrui leader Sheikh Mbaruk ("Baruku") bin Rashid , who acquired a reputation for torturing prisoners after half-suffocating them in the fumes of burning chillies. The story was perhaps intended to discredit him, as he was the principal figure behind the Mazrui Rebellion in 1895, an uprising against British authority that saw Mbaruk flying a German flag at his house and supplying his men with arms donated by the Germans. The British had to send for troops from India; even so, fighting continued for nine months before an Omani puppet regime was re-established and the rebels crushed. Mbaruk died in exile in German Tanganyika.

 

His mansion is now a primary school, which you can look around out of school hours. More than 150 years old, it was obviously a very grand place - the heavy ceiling timbers show that it once had an upper storey - but it is now sadly neglected. Fort Jesus Museum has plundered its fine front door and unfortunately left an ugly scar. To know where to stop for Gazi, you'll have to ask, as there isn't a sign on the highway. The village itself is on a deep, mangrove-filled bay and has no beach to speak of. "Gazi Beach", about 2km south of the village, is more promising