The Hareem Suite
The Hareem Suite
This is the larger of the two suites that exist in Baytil Ajaib. Entering and closing of the massive antiques Swahili doors you enter into a world all of your own and total privacy.
This encompasses an entire floor, approximately 150 sqm with rooms offering inner balconies leading to a large courtyard teeming with lush tropical plants providing un-parallel seclusion.
Due to the lighting of different times of the day the walls often glow with hues and nuances from the sun and clusters of palms and ferns are fanned by the breeze through the central courtyard where butterflies and birds flutter and often play. Within these walls, the African Arab culture of the Swahili Coast is a tactile living experience. From the courtyard one enters into the first chamber of the suite whose walls display the shape of a chained turtle in various degrees of abstraction, a traditional symbol of fertility and prosperity bound by religious law and moral restraint.
Entering into the next chambers, have ceiling of 4meters or more, designed and heavily laden with magnificent inlaid wooden beams in various architectural designs to support these high ceiling which permits a constant coolness for air flow. All of these inner chambers are laden with Tadelakt wall murals composed of lime enriched with alabaster and marble dust lending to the walls a shimmering effect that changes hourly with the ascension and the dissension of the sun.
The entire suite is furnished with carpets from Iran and antiques that are all collector’s items beginning with the Sultan’s bed providing kingly splendor fashioned after the bed of the King of Kilwa, to the two Indians beds which grace the outer most rooms which can also be used as divans during the mid day’s onslaught of heat offering refuge in the cooler inner chambers. One is further enraptured by antique commodes from Afghanistan and China that blends so well with this culture.
The Sultan’s bedroom, which is the inner most chamber, is a truly Swahili delight. The kingly bed of Kilwa, made in massive mahogany, extending in width of nearly 2meters and a length of nearly 3 meters dominates a third of this royal room. Herein one finds the most decorative of the wall murals lined with niches containing artifacts of rare finds and beauty. An old Swahili carved chest and an Indian commode graced with Lalique crystal adds the finishing touches to this most private and inner sanctum. Off of the Sultan’s bedroom is the private shower and toilet heavily decorated with the most artistic Arabic archway and open portals highly placed under the ceiling allowing breath taking visual display of light and shadows at various hours of the day which are so effective in this part of the world.
Kone will find also in the Sultan’s suite, off of the main courtyard, a completely intact, traditional Swahili pre-chamber and toilet. Although restored, it has been left as found to guard the historical integrity of this wonderful structure. Also there is a sitting area in the courtyard that allows one to sit and observe the birds and often butterflies that visit the courtyards daily.