The Old Fort was originally build by the Omani Arabs around 1700 on the site of a Portuguese chapel as a defence site against the Portuguese.
It has been recently partially renovated to house the Zanzibar Cultural Centre as well as the offices of the Zanzibar International Film Festival.
Inside an open-air theatre in which local music and dance shows are organized. Each year in July the International Film Festival, and in February the international music festival.
The famous tree that grows inside the Fort is called “mwarobaini”, which means forty because this tree is believed to cure forty different types of disease.
