Kusini Pemba

Kusini Pemba (South Pemba) is the administrative heart of Pemba Island, centred on Chake Chake — the island's main town and port. The region features the haunting ruins of Ras Mkumbuu, a 15th-century Swahili settlement abandoned after Portuguese raids, now overgrown with baobabs and frangipani. Pujini Ruins (locally known as Mkame Ndume, "the oppressor") preserve the walls of a despotic king's fortress, complete with narrow passageways designed to make subjects crawl before the sultan. The mangrove channels around Chake Chake support traditional fishing and boat-building communities where skills pass unchanged through generations. Pemba's famed traditional healers operate throughout Kusini Pemba, attracting practitioners from across East Africa seeking herbal remedies and spiritual treatments. The region's quiet beaches, seaweed farms, and coconut groves remain refreshingly untouched by mass tourism.