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Tips & Traps
Insider advice from Local Friends and travelers. What to do, and what to avoid, city by city.
- TipA place or a move worth it
- TrapWhat to avoid, and how
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Insider advice from Local Friends and travelers. What to do, and what to avoid, city by city.
Join RALF to share your own tips and traps
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If you plan to use the BRT, ferries and daladalas, the city centre around Posta and Kivukoni is the most connected place to stay. The BRT terminal at Kivukoni and the ferry to Kigamboni are close together, Posta is the main daladala hub, and the National Museum and St Joseph’s Cathedral are within walking distance…
The Slow Leopard is a bar, restaurant and hostel on Chole Road that hosts live music most weekends and shows live sport on a big screen. In early 2025 it staged a Marafiki Night, a showcase of acoustic and electric Tanzanian acts for a mixed crowd of locals and international residents. Arrive after dark, expect the…
Marafiki began as a music festival and has grown into a wider arts festival, adding a dance stage after the Haba na Haba dance festival ended. It is held in October across Dar es Salaam and Bagamoyo, with live bands, workshops and panels. Past editions have used the Slow Leopard and the Makumbusho Village Museum…
Swahili Fashion Week is a three-day show of African designers held in Dar es Salaam in early December, usually at the Parthenon Hall in the Greek Hellenic Club on Ali Hassan Mwinyi Road. The 2025 edition brought together more than forty designers from several countries and ran an awards night. Look for the programme…
Nafasi is a contemporary arts centre in an industrial area of Mikocheni B, founded by Tanzanian artists in 2008. It has more than twenty studios, several galleries and performance spaces, and it hosts exhibitions, film screenings, concerts and art talks. Check the Upcoming Events page on its website before you go, and…
The National Museum and House of Culture on Shaaban Robert Street is open every day, including weekends. Its human origins section holds Paranthropus boisei skull bones found by Mary and Louis Leakey at Olduvai, and other displays cover Kilwa, German and British rule and the Arusha Declaration. A car that belonged to…
The Tingatinga Arts Cooperative Society, on the Msasani side of Oyster Bay, is a working school and studio with around a hundred artists. You can watch them paint and compare styles, from traditional bold animals on small boards to newer experiments. Size and quality vary a lot, so look at several painters before you…
Roughly an hour and a half from downtown, the Pugu Kazimzumbwi nature reserve gives Dar a green escape on foot. You register at the entry point, then walk from Lake Minaki through bamboo and forest to a viewpoint over the city and caves used locally for prayer. Plan four to five hours for the full loop and bring water…
Mbudya is a marine-reserve island reached by a short motorboat ride from the Kunduchi beach area, not from downtown. Boats usually leave once four people are aboard, so arrive with a group or join one early. Go in the dry months from June to October for calm seas, because rough waves often cancel boats in April and…
It is illegal in Tanzania to photograph military or police personnel, and British government advice adds that taking or sharing photos and video of protests or violence is illegal too. Operators also tell visitors to avoid military, government and police buildings. Keep the camera down near uniforms and official…
Street taxis in Dar es Salaam have no meters, so the fare is whatever you agree before you get in. British government advice says the safest way is a taxi arranged through your hotel or operator, with the driver’s ID checked. Ride-hailing apps also work in the city, so match the plate and driver to your booking. Do…
When heavy rain hits, the Jangwani stretch of Morogoro Road floods and gets sealed off. In April 2024 DART stopped its Kimara buses at Magomeni Mapipa and sent only the Muhimbili routes into the centre. Residents still say the area floods with every downpour. In the rainy months leave a long buffer before flights or…
The rapid buses that run in their own lanes no longer accept paper tickets. DART ended them from March 2025, so every rider needs a smart card, and the cards are sold at the BRT stations. Buy yours at the station window before you head up to the platform, because the trunk stations are elevated. The main line runs…
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