Tanzania Travel Guide: Facts, Capital, Cities, Culture and History

We are a Tanzanian company based in Arusha, and most of the questions in this guide come straight from guests before their first trip. It covers the facts you will want in your head before you land, then the cities, a short history, religion and manners, and the flag. For parks and itineraries, go to our Tanzania safari page or the safari guide.

Tanzania quick facts

Fact	Answer
Official name	United Republic of Tanzania
Capital	Dodoma
Largest city	Dar es Salaam
Population	61,741,120 (2022 census: 59.85 million on the mainland, 1.89 million in Zanzibar)
Languages	Swahili (Kiswahili) and English
Currency	Tanzanian shilling (TZS). Safari and park prices are usually quoted in US dollars
Time zone	East Africa Time, UTC+3, no daylight saving
Electricity	230 V; mostly the British three-pin plug (type G)
Driving	On the left
Dialling code	+255
Highest point	Mount Kilimanjaro, 5,895 m

Most visitors need a visa. Our visa and entry guide covers how to apply.

Capital and major cities of Tanzania

Dodoma is the capital of Tanzania. It became the official capital in 1996, when Parliament moved there from Dar es Salaam, which is still the largest city, the main port and the business centre. Most travellers never go to Dodoma: safaris in the north start from Arusha or Moshi, and the coast and Zanzibar are reached through Dar es Salaam.

City	What it is	Why travellers go
Dodoma	Capital and seat of Parliament, in the centre of the country	Rarely on a safari route
Dar es Salaam	Largest city and main port, with Julius Nyerere International Airport	Flights, ferries to Zanzibar, the southern parks
Arusha	Northern city at the foot of Mount Meru; our office is here	Start of most northern safaris
Moshi	Town on the southern slopes of Kilimanjaro	Base for Kilimanjaro climbs
Mwanza	Port city on Lake Victoria	Western Serengeti and the lake
Stone Town	The old town of Zanzibar City	History, markets and the Zanzibar coast

A short history of Tanzania

People have lived here for a very long time. At Olduvai Gorge, between the Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti, Mary and Louis Leakey found some of the most important early human fossils, and at nearby Laetoli a trail of footprints was left in volcanic ash about 3.6 million years ago. Most northern safaris drive past the gorge, and it is worth the stop.

From around the 10th century the coast was part of the Indian Ocean trade. Swahili towns such as Kilwa Kisiwani traded gold, ivory and other goods with Arabia, Persia and India, and Swahili grew out of that meeting of Bantu languages and Arabic. In 1840 the Sultan of Oman moved his court to Zanzibar, which became the centre of the clove trade and, for decades, of the East African slave trade.

Germany took the mainland as German East Africa in the 1880s and met fierce resistance, most of all in the Maji Maji war of 1905 to 1907. After the First World War, Britain ran the mainland as Tanganyika. Tanganyika became independent on 9 December 1961 under Julius Nyerere, and on 26 April 1964 it joined with Zanzibar to form the United Republic of Tanzania.

Religion in Tanzania

Tanzania has a Christian majority and a large Muslim minority, and the two have lived side by side for generations. There are no official figures: the census has not asked about religion since 1967. The Pew Research Center's estimate for 2020 put about 63% of Tanzanians as Christian and 34% as Muslim, and the Zanzibar islands are almost entirely Muslim.

A few habits will make your trip easier:

• In Stone Town and the villages of Zanzibar, cover your shoulders and knees when you walk around. Beachwear is fine at the hotel and on the beach.
• During Ramadan, avoid eating or drinking in the street in Zanzibar during daylight. Hotels still serve meals as normal.
• Ask before you photograph people. Most say yes; some, especially Maasai elders, may ask for a small payment or prefer not to.
• Greetings matter. A slow "Habari?" and a handshake go further than any phrasebook.

For the people behind those greetings, read our guide to the tribes of Tanzania. For what is on the plate, see Tanzanian food: 12 dishes to try.

A few words of Swahili

Swahili	Meaning
Jambo / Habari?	Hello / How are you?
Nzuri	Good, fine (the usual reply)
Asante (sana)	Thank you (very much)
Karibu	Welcome, and "you're welcome"
Pole pole	Slowly, slowly. You will hear it all the way up Kilimanjaro
Hakuna matata	No problem

Flag and national symbols

The flag was adopted in 1964, after the union. A black diagonal band edged in gold runs from corner to corner, with a green triangle above and a blue one below. Green stands for the land, gold for the country's minerals, black for its people and blue for the lakes, rivers and the Indian Ocean. The green came from Tanganyika's flag and the blue from Zanzibar's.

The coat of arms shows a shield standing on Mount Kilimanjaro, held by a man and a woman, with the motto Uhuru na Umoja, "Freedom and Unity". The torch on the shield is the Uhuru Torch, first lit on the summit of Kilimanjaro in 1961 at independence and still carried around the country every year. The national animal is the giraffe.