A twin-turreted for on an island off the Kenya coast, which has been guarding its secrets for centuries, is currently yielding them up to a small team of archaeologists.

Siyu Fort on Pate Island recalls the days in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries when Siyu was a prosperous town, known as the City of Craftsmen, and famous for its arts and crafts.

In the nineteenth century, the fort won another kind of fame when the Sultans of Zanzibar were extending their rule over Africa's east coast islands. Siyu was one of the last places to submit to the Sultans. The fort seems to have been deliberately destroyed following the capitulation.

Experts are still arguing ever when the fort was built. But it presents archaeologists with splendid opportunities for excavation work, with cannon still lying in the debris and waiting to be unearthed.

The gradual restoration of the fort is accompanied by a revival in the fortunes of Siyu town, where the population is currently on the increase and where the traditional crafts -- such as leatherwork -- are being revived.