10 Fantastic Spots For Shopping During Your Tanzania Safari Tour : Where can you buy some local Tanzanian gifts to take home to your family after your Tanzania safari? 10 shops in Tanzania Where You Can Buy a Piece of This Culturally Rich Country: The majority of Tanzania’s well-known tourist destinations provide opportunities for souvenir shopping. Popular items to bring back as gifts include hand-printed batik fabrics, Tanzanite jewelry, traditional woodcarvings, and Maasai tartan blankets and beadwork. In general, a local market is a much better place to find a deal than a mall or craft store that is popular with tourists.
Tanzania is well known for some uncommon and one-of-a-kind goods that are exclusive to this East African nation. African-made goods can be purchased in curio shops, bazaars, and local markets in cities like Zanzibar, Arusha, and Dar es Salaam. Every year, cultural and artistic festivals are held to promote pan-African goods to the rest of the world. Positive cities like Dar es Salaam are well known for their upscale malls and traditional souks. Shopping in Tanzania is a fantastic pastime that offers a glimpse into African culture and ways of life.
10 BEST PLACES FOR SHOPPING IN TANZANIA
On the way home from a trip to Tanzania, the following locations offer African handicrafts and souvenirs:
- The Tanzania Experience
Only in Tanzania can one find tanzanite, a semiprecious gemstone with a blue-violet hue. The Mount Kilimanjaro foothills are where the gem is mined. Without purchasing this blue diamond from a reputable jeweler who offers an internationally recognized gem certificate, no shopping trip to Arusha, Tanzania, is complete.
Due to its proximity to the mining area, Arusha offers the gemstone for less than other regions of Tanzania. The Tanzanite Experience, a museum in Arusha, organizes a visual tour of the mining, cutting, polishing, and grading processes of this precious stone. They also have shops where customers can purchase certified gems.
- Location: Blue Plaza, India Street, Arusha, Tanzania
- What to buy: Tanzanite jewelry or just the gem.
- Tinga-Tinga Arts Cooperative Society
Edward Tingatinga founded the Tinga Tinga paintings as a style of art in 1968. These paintings feature the Serengeti wildlife in vivid colors, making them the ideal Tanzanian souvenirs for children. The Tingatinga Arts Cooperative Society was established by Edward Tingatinga’s family to support the artists who create this wonderful art. Along with workshops, the Society building also has galleries.
- Location: Oyster Bay, Masaki, and Dar es Salaam.
- What to buy: Tinga Tinga paintings
- Maasai Market: Curio and Crafts
The Maasai community’s goods, including beaded jewelry, woven baskets, paintings, and red-checked blankets, are where Tanzanian shopping begins. Kangas and kikois, the fabrics or sarongs worn by Maasai men and women, are available for purchase. The bright, bold patterns on the Maasai culture’s textiles give them a distinctive appearance for bags, cushions, and clothing in general. Arusha’s Maasai Market, Curio, and Crafts is the ideal one-stop shop for purchasing Maasai trinkets.
- Location: Fire Road, Arusha
- What to buy: baskets, beaded jewelry, blankets, and fabric
- Coffee plantations in Arusha
As the largest coffee exporter in the world, coffee production is crucial to the economy of this East African nation. They are widely grown on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Meru in the shade of banana crops. The most well-known types of coffee to purchase in Tanzania are Bourbon, Kent, and Blue Mountain. Any plantation in the Arusha area offers tours of the coffee beans’ processing and sells the finished product. While shopping in Tanzania, one can discover more about the rich African coffee, making it the ideal family outing.
- Location: Arusha
- What to buy: Blue Mountain, Kent, and Robusta coffee
Coffee plantations in Arusha
- Kizimbani and Kindaichi Spice Plantations
Zanzibar is frequently referred to as the Spice Island. All along Stone Town, one can see plantations of various spices, including nutmeg, cinnamon, clove, and ginger. In the plantations at Kizimbani or Kindaichi, just outside of Stone Town, guided tours are organized. The spice tour concludes with a trip to the Persian bathhouse or an evening spent at a beach after a meal at a local farmhouse. The enticing aromas and flavors of the spices permeate the local souks in Stone Town. The most well-known items to purchase in Tanzania are cinnamon, mace, nutmeg, pepper, and lemongrass.
- Location: Local bazaars of Stone Town, Zanzibar
- What to buy: lemongrass, saffron, nutmeg, cloves, pepper, and cinnamon
- Msasani City Mall for High-End Boutiques
The best clothing stores in Tanzania can be found at Msasani City Mall, which was created to meet international quality standards on products. The retail industry in Tanzania has undergone a revolution thanks to the country’s first brand shopping sector. The primary shopping destination in Dar es Salaam for fashionable clothing and accessories for men, women, and children is Msasani City Mall. The mall’s top floor has a terrace lounge where patrons can unwind with a drink and take in the surroundings.
- Location: Msasani city, near the American Embassy, Dar es Salaam
- What to buy: Fashion clothing and footwear
- Mwenge Woodcarvers Market
A shopping guide for Tanzania would be lacking without a mention of the exquisite wooden figurines. About 200 woodcarvers who specialize in Makonde carvings in Africa are housed in the large cooperative society known as the Mwenge woodcarvers market in Dar es Salaam. Here, one can buy unusual goods like wooden masks, African drums, wooden sculptures, antiques, and other artifacts. Prices can frequently be altered. It is advisable to browse all of the outdoor stalls before making a decision. Next to the stalls, workshops have been set up where visitors can observe the men at work.
- Location: Sam Nujoma Road, Dar es Salaam
- What to buy: wooden masks, Makonde figurines, and African drums
- 10 Fantastic Spots For Shopping During Your Tanzania Safari Tour : Memories of Zanzibar
An abundance of mementos can be found in the memories of Zanzibar. It is Tanzania’s one-stop shop for all the best retail therapy. This emporium provides options for books, ornaments, clothing, furniture, and crafts, all at affordable prices. Even the store has a sizable selection of CDs with African music. All the major hotels in Stone Town are close by and accessible on foot. This showroom has two stories, is vibrantly colored, and has friendly staff. Here, you can buy local coffee, tea, spices, and snacks. In this tiny area of Zanzibar, one can experience all of East Africa.
- Location: Kenyatta Road, Shangani, Stone Town, Zanzibar
- What to buy: music, books, and other artifacts
- 10 Fantastic Spots For Shopping During Your Tanzania Safari Tour : Fahari Zanzibar
High-end leather goods, jewelry, and other accessories are made and sold at Fahari Zanzibar, a retail establishment. All of the items in this shop are handmade from regional components like wood, sterling silver, oyster shells, and cow horn. Here, Kitenge, a locally produced African print fabric, is produced; the designs change seasonally. Many fashion shows, including the Swahili Fashion Week and the South African Fashion Week, have featured the fabrics and accessories of Fahari Zanzibar. It is an NGO that gives the local artisans a means of support. Fahari, which was started by a London designer named Julie Lawrence and literally translates to “to feel pride in oneself” in Swahili,
- Location: 62, Kenyatta Road, Zanzibar
- What to buy: leather handbags and silver hoop earrings
- 10 Fantastic Spots For Shopping During Your Tanzania Safari Tour : Shangai Shangai Cultural Tour
It is a foundation that was established as a means of generating income for Tanzanian people with disabilities. Visitors are welcome at any time to stop by and observe the artisans weave lovely objects from glass and leaves. With the help of recycled glass powder beads, visitors can try their hand at making beaded jewelry. Here, 55 mute and deaf people are housed and given jobs. These talented people additionally produce silk, chiffon, and voile fabrics in addition to the beaded jewelry. Additionally, a glass bowling workshop is held. The ideal way to wrap up your shopping in Tanzania is by making purchases here and supporting their creative abilities.
- Location: Arusha Coffee Lodge, Arusha
- What to buy: glassware, jewelry, and colorful fabrics
CONCLUSION
Tanzania has a very rich cultural history. Their goods, which make the ideal memento gifts, clearly demonstrate this. Tanzania offers its visitors endless safaris and mountain trekking, so going shopping there is undoubtedly a welcome break from those activities.
Samora Machel Avenue is home to Dar es Salaam’s primary shopping district. Visitors will find many shops in and around this area of the city to browse for some last-minute souvenirs, such as printed cotton fabrics and regional paintings. To find souvenirs at a lower cost, visit one of Tanzania’s many local markets. The expansive Kariakoo Market, which sells locally grown fresh produce (fruits and vegetables), spices, as well as some textiles and handicrafts, is the biggest local market in Dar es Salaam.
It is safe to explore, but be aware that it can get very busy. While most locals are friendly and welcoming, there are a few young men who have a tendency to stick to tourists like tsetse flies on a buffalo, which can significantly diminish your overall market experience if you are at the beginning of your excursion. The vibrant Arusha Central Market is another fascinating shopping experience. Don’t expect to bring home a lot of souvenirs from these enormous local markets; instead, you’ll mostly bring back memories and an overwhelming variety of smells.
Visitors can also purchase hand-carved trinkets at the Mwenge Carvers’ Market in Dar es Salaam, which is situated next to the Village Museum. Although it is more expensive, the Msasani Slipway Weekend Craft Market is much more sedate, making it simpler to browse in peace. Even though the Dar es Salaam Fish Market may not seem like the place to shop, it’s worth a visit just to experience the atmosphere when fishermen deliver their catch at dawn.
Book your trip to Africa right away to experience its fascinating culture firsthand while taking part in this unforgettable shopping adventure!
