A small island in the south of Tanzania, separated from the mainland by just 3 km, Kilwa Kisiwani preserves some of the oldest evidence of the important history that has encompassed Tanzania’s coastline for more than a millennium. Its vestiges, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, together with those of the neighbouring Songo Mnara island, are a true architectural and archaeological treasure, a historical document now in ruins, but attempting to revive thanks to the goodwill of the inhabitants, skilled maintainers, and the legends of its glorious past.