Makunduchi

Makunduchi is a Tanzanian town, located the southeastern tip of Unguja (Zanzibar Island), south of Jambiani, in the South District of the Zanzibar Central/South Region. The town comprises two distinct settlements, about 2 km from each other, "Old Makunduchi" and "New Makunduchi". Old Makunduchi is a small fishermen's village, while New Makunduchi has some modern buildings, shops, as well as some blocks of flats that were built in the 1970s with the aid of East German funds and engineers.[1]

Traditional dhow boat in Makunduchi

Makunduchi is mostly known for the Mwaka Kogwa[2] or Mwaka Koga[3] ("show of the year") celebrations, of Shirazi heritage, that take place in July/August to celebrate the New Year.[4][5] In Mwaka Kogwa, a ritual battle is fought, at the end of which a hut is burned. Then, predictions are made for the new year, based on the direction taken by the smoke.[6] Tours are organised to visit the festival and to explain and point out the customs.[2]


Tourism

Makunduchi is a protected area in Zanzibar. The first hotel was built in Makunduchi beach in 2006.[7]

See also

Historic Swahili Settlements

Footnotes
  1. McIntyre, Chris; McIntyre, Susan (November 30, 2009). Zanzibar. Bradt Travel Guides. ISBN 9781841622545 – via Google Books.
  2. "!! News !!". omar chai aka eminem - tour guide zanzibar.
  3. "Memories of Zanzibar". znzmumtaz.50webs.com.
  4. Mwaka Kogwa Festival, Tanzania Tourist Board, lookup 02.09.2022
  5. The occasion is often called "The Persian New" year or described as originating in Iran/Persia. In Swahili it was also called "Nairuzi" which is linguistically a variation of the Persian - Iranian New Year festival Nowruz. It has to be noted, however, that Iranian Nowruz is always celebrated on March 20 or 21, at the date of spring equinox. This not the date of Mwaka Kogwa. Moreover "Nairuzi" was not imported directly from Persian language but from sailor's Arabic. Here it meant a solar year, as different from the Islamic lunar year. cf. P.J.L. Frankl "Siku ya Mwaka: New Year's Day in Swahili land " , in Journal of Religion in Africa XXIII / 2, 1993 pp 15 ff
  6. "Mwaka Kogwa". www.mzuri-kaja.or.tz. Archived from the original on 2015-06-19.
  7. "Red Roof". www.sansibarurlaub.de.


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