Tanzania Towns & Cities

Located in the north of Tanzania, in the shadow of Mount Meru, Arusha is the safari capital of the country. Tourists usually overnight here before their safari around the Northern Circuit. Built by the Germans as a centre of colonial administration, Arusha is now one of the country’s most prosperous towns. The site for the United Nations Criminal Tribunal and the headquarters for the tripartite Commission for East African co-operation, Arusha is also the centre for the trading of Tanzanite, a rare gemstone only found in Tanzania. The National Natural History Museum, with its collection of antiquities demonstrating Tanzania’s natural heritage, is housed in an old German Fort in the centre of Arusha while the nearby Cultural Heritage centre and its adjacent, four storey Art Gallery are also well worth a visit.

Bagamoyo is a centre for dhow sailboat building on the Tanzanian coast. A quiet village with a few German colonial buildings still standing, it was once one the most important trading ports on the East African coast, and the penultimate stop of slave and ivory caravans travelling on foot from Lake Tanganyika on their way to Zanzibar. Missionaries active in abolishing the slave trade made Bagamoyo a centre for their

activities. The name ‘Bagamoyo’ means ‘lay down your heart’ in Kiswahili, this is particularly poignant given that the town was the last stop on the mainland before captured slaves were sent to destinations unknown from Zanzibar, never to return.

Located in the heartland of Tanzania, &QFQOCKUVJGPCVKQPoUQHƂEKCNRQNKVKECNcapital and the seat of Government in the country. Comparably much smaller and less developed than the country’s commercial centre, Dar es Salaam, Dodoma remains a centre for national politics. Situated on the eastern edge of the southern highlands, the city is surrounded by a rich agricultural area and pleasant scenery. It is the centre of Tanzania’s growing wine industry.

Historically, Dodoma was a stopover on the overland caravan route that travelled from the Swahili Coast inland towards Lake Tanganyika. Early in the 20th Century, the city became a major point on the Central Line Railway, which carried agricultural crops for export to the harbour in Dar es Salaam.

The bustling town of Kigoma is the regional capital of western Tanzania and a central port in the area. Located on the eastern shores of Lake Tanganyika, Kigoma is surrounded by rugged mountains and forests that make it a pleasing and beautiful location. In the past, Kigoma has been in competition with nearby Ujiji, but over the last few decades Kigoma has gained a strong economic foothold in the region and its port is of central importance to the

activities of the area. The town makes a good overland base for visting the Chimpanzee Safari to the Gombe Stream National Park and Mahale Mountains National Park.

Near the Zambian border deep in the southern highlands, the city of Mbeya is the major agricultural capital in the country’s southwest region. The Mbeya Mountain Range lies to the north, and the Poroto Mountain Range lies to the southeast. Coffee, tea, bananas and cocoa, all of which are grown in the region, are sent to Mbeya for packaging and transporting. Mbeya’s location also make it an ideal transit point with goods and people travelling by road, rail and boat between Tanzania and neighbouring Zambia and Malawi. In addition to its agricultural prosperity,

Mbeya’s mineral wealth has attracted investment and provides the country with a good source of income.

The town was originally founded in the 1930s, when gold was discovered and a ‘gold rush’ ensued. The Mbeya gold supply turned out to be large giving for the city an opportunity to become properly established and saved it from becoming a ghosttown status as so often happened after the gold ran out. The city continues to supply the country with a regular amount of gold. Its mountain views and pleasant weather make it a good stopover point for over land travellers heading south.

Nestled at the base of Mt Kilimanjaro, Moshi is the coffee-producing centre of the country. Vast plantations of coffee blanket the area, surrounding the town and rising up the slopes of Kilimanjaro. Coffee is the mainstay of life in Moshi, and the seasonal coffee auctions, where international buyers bid for wholesale coffee, is an event not to be missed if you’re in town. Sugar plantations are also of central importance to the region’s economy, and can be seen outside the town.

Cultural tourism programmes can arrange short hikes and day-trips to local villages, and also tours to nearby coffee farms. The main reason visitors come to Moshi is to climb Mt Kilimanjaro, the mountain whose thick clouds and snow-capped peak tower over the agricultural town. Climbing expeditions depart for Kilimanjaro National Park early in the morning, before the clouds that cluster daily around the mountaintop have risen, and when the air is fresh and cool. Whether you’re in Moshi to scale to the top of Africa or learn more about coffee growing and production, Moshi is a quiet haven of tranquil peace, its sedate streets offer a warm welcome in a beautiful setting.

Situated on the southern shores of Lake Victoria, in the north west of the country, Tanzania’s second city is the perfect base from which to visit nearby Rubondo National Park, Saanane Island and the Bujora Sukuma and Nyerere museums. It also offers easy access to the Serengeti being only a 2 ó hour drive from the Western Grumeti. Other attractions include lake cruises, ECPQGKPIUCHCTKUCPFƂUJKPIHQTVKNCRKCor giant nile perch. Mwanza is also known as Rock City because of the gigantic rock outcrops jutting out of the lake and strewn around the city.

The most famous of these are the Bismarck Rocks, named after the German chancellor under whom this originally small town was established as the administration centre of German East Africa.

Once a centre of Swahili trade with the African mainland, the town of Pangani is now a sleepy backwater that remembers little of its splendorous past. An old German administrative

boma still stands behind a colonnade of tall shade trees and the former prison, painted a fading ochre red, looks over the river’s lazy waters. Old houses along the main road offer lived-in examples of colonial and traditional Swahili architecture, with buildings slowly crumbling against the monsoon winds. Visitors passing through the area would do well to explore what remains of the old town on foot. Even a short walk rewards visitors with a glimpse of quiet life in the old trading towns along the Swahili Coast.

The sleepy town of Tabora, in the hinterland of western Tanzania, remains a key transit point in the country. The Central Line railway branches at Tabora to both Kigoma and Mwanza, and visitors travelling by train often use Tabora as a stopover point during their journey. The regions around Tabora are famous for the honey they produce, and large jerry cans and bottles of the famous nectar can be bought in the village market.

Tabora was once a major trading point and stopover for caravans that connected Lake Tanganyika and Central Africa with the coastal town of Bagamoyo to the northeast. Its historical importance is illustrated by the fact that the infamous slave and ivory trader Tippu Tip, who lived during the 19th Century, made extensive use of Tabora as a centre of his vast trading empire.

The bustling port of Tanga is Tanzania’s second port after the urban centre of Dar es Salaam. Although the port is a centre of marine export, import, and trade, the town of Tanga still has a quiet, laid-back feel to it, as if not much has changed over the decades. Indeed, along the older sections of the town, examples of old colonial architecture and a few Arab houses still give testament to the area’s importance during the heyday of Indian Ocean trade. 6JGƂUJOCTMGVCPFDGCEJGUOCMGa pleasant stop during a day trip, and the city is a good place for buying supplies if you’re headed to one of the more remote areas of beaches on the northern coast.