Tanzania Culture & Language

Tanzanian culture divides between a mainland of many peoples held together by a shared language and a coast that has been part of the Indian Ocean world for a thousand years.

Swahili civilisation

The coastal city-states traded with Arabia, Persia, India and China from the eighth century. Kilwa Kisiwani was rich enough that Ibn Battuta called it one of the most beautiful cities he had seen, and its ruins are UNESCO-listed. Stone Town on Zanzibar, also UNESCO-listed, is a warren of coral-rag houses with carved doors, and the coastal culture — language, architecture, food — is a genuine fusion rather than an import.

Music

Taarab is Zanzibar’s own form: sung Swahili poetry with an orchestra drawing on Egyptian, Indian and local traditions, performed at weddings and by long-established clubs. On the mainland, bongo flava is the dominant contemporary music.

Carving and cloth

Makonde sculpture from the south-east, carved from dense ebony into interlocking figures, is among the best-known African sculptural traditions. Kanga cloth, worn by women across the country, carries a Swahili proverb printed along its edge — which means what somebody is wearing is often a message.

Food

Ugali with stew on the mainland; on the coast, pilau, biryani, coconut fish curry and the street food of Zanzibar’s Forodhani gardens. Spices — cloves above all, which Zanzibar grew for the world — run through the coastal kitchen.

Peoples

From the Maasai and Datoga of the north to the Hadza around Lake Eyasi, one of the last hunter-gatherer peoples on earth, speaking a click language unrelated to anything nearby.

Swahili is the national language and is genuinely spoken by almost everyone, as a first or second language, across more than a hundred and twenty ethnic groups. It is the language of primary schooling, government and daily life, which is unusual in Africa and is a deliberate legacy of Nyerere’s language policy.

English is the second official language, used in secondary and higher education, business and tourism — so guides, lodges and city businesses speak it well, and rural areas often do not.

Swahili is easy to start: phonetic, no tones, regular grammar. Jambo or habari for hello, asante sana for thank you very much, karibu for welcome, pole pole for slowly — which is the phrase every Kilimanjaro guide repeats all week, and the single best piece of advice on the mountain.

Say shikamoo to anyone noticeably older than you; the reply is marahaba. It is noticed and appreciated.