Jumba la Mtwana Entrance Fees

In this article, we will look at Jumba la Mtwana ruins entrance fees. Jumba la Mtwana Ruins is a picturesque ancient ruins village situated in Kilifi County. The site lies 15 kilometres north of Mombasa, 4 kilometres from the Mombasa-Malindi road and extends along the shore for a distance of about 300 meters and 250 meters inland. The ruins are under the care of the National Museums of Kenya.

As you leave the ticket office, the first thing you notice is the quiet ambience of the ruins surrounded by trees. This was once a well-planned settlement, with at least three wells indicating a thriving population. The ground is covered in heavy leaf litter and the signage is limited. However, for a small fee, you can hire a guide who will provide you with a detailed history of the place.

Historians believe the town started more than 1,000 years ago as a traditional village of mud and thatch homes, likely surrounded by a protective wooden fence. Residents farmed, reared cattle, and practiced African religious traditions.

Islam did not come to this region until the 8th century, when traders from the Middle East began to settle on the East African coast. Traders sailed across the Indian Ocean in dhows propelled by ocean winds that moved north or south at different times of the year. The merchants would stay at the coast for several months, trading and waiting for the winds to change direction. There is a path leading from the ruins to the nearby sea and a peaceful stretch of beach.

The name Jumba La Mtwana means “big house of the slave,” which suggests that there was a slave port here supplying markets in the Middle East. From the 10th century onwards, wealthier residents of Jumba constructed buildings from coral rag and mortar, while poorer families likely continued to live in mud huts on the outskirts of the growing town.

The current ruins consist of several buildings with coral-stone walls and arched doorways, although the roofs and wooden doors have deteriorated over time. Despite many of the buildings having collapsed, you can still discern the layout of various rooms and chambers that served specific functions. The narrow paths between the houses reminded me of the narrow streets in Mombasa’s Old Town and Zanzibar’s Stone Town.

Many of the walls still feature niches carved into them, which were used to hold oil lamps or decorative items. There are sunken rooms that once served as communal bathing pools. A guide will point out a small, deep hole at the corner of one of the buildings—an indoor latrine. Next to it, there is a stone ledge with a round depression where a bowl of ablution water would have been placed. There are also holes high up the walls that would have held wooden beams.

There is a mosque with a dome-shaped mihrab carved into the wall, which helps Muslims identify the direction of Mecca for praying. The buildings have imaginative names like The House of Many Doors and The House of the Cylinder. From the 13th to the 17th centuries, the heyday of the Indian Ocean trade brought many cultural influences.

Inside Jumba’s gallery, you can find a collection of artefacts such as silver jewelry, an Arab sword and shield, an intricately carved grave marker, Chinese ceramics, shards of local pottery, and an Arabic oud guitar. Outside the gallery, there is the large skeleton of a sperm whale, a reminder of the trade in whale excretions that were highly sought after by the perfume industry. The town was abandoned about 600 years ago, possibly due to a decreasing water supply or diminishing trade. Over time, the buildings have decayed, and large baobabs and other trees have grown around the ruins. What remains needs to be renovated to prevent further decline.