Bagamoyo

Seventy kilometres north of Dar es Salaam, Bagamoyo (Lay down your heart) was the original capital of German East Africa, and was, in its heyday, one of the most important slaving towns in East Africa.

Today Bagamoyo is a laid-back, sleepy and faded replica of its former self, rich in historical interest, and a pleasant destination for a day or weekend away from Dar Es Salaam.

Most of the major British explorers, including Burton, Speke, Livingstone, Stanley and Grant, used Bagamoyo as a staging post for their expeditions, and it was to the port of Bagamoyo that a bedraggled party led by Abdullah Susi and James Chuma came on February 15, 1874, carrying the desecrated body (sans heart) of David Livingstone, after an epic journey from the interior of Central Zambia. Livingstone's body was then transported to England for a ceremonial burial in Westminster Abbey, with Susi and Chuma as pallbearers.

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