The missionaries Carl Wilhelm Isenberg, and Johann Ludwig Krapf spent a night at Ambabbo (which they called "Anbabo") in 1839, describing it as a resting-place, "where the caravans usually halt" on the shore of the bay Ghubbat-el Kharab.[1]Charles Johnston, passing through this settlement about three years later, described it as "a small native village of about eight houses".[2]