Tanzania time zone, and why 7am is saa moja

Tanzania time zone and time difference

Tanzania runs on East Africa Time, UTC+3, all year round, and the clocks never change. There is no daylight saving here. When the gap with home shifts, it is because your own country has moved its clocks, not Tanzania.

Tanzania is ahead of	When the clocks go forward at home (northern summer)	When the clocks go back at home (northern winter)
London	2 hours	3 hours
Amsterdam, Paris, Berlin	1 hour	2 hours
New York, Toronto	7 hours	8 hours
Los Angeles, Vancouver	10 hours	11 hours

Europe changes its clocks on the last Sunday of March and of October. North America changes on the second Sunday of March and the first Sunday of November, so for a few weeks each spring and autumn the gap is an hour different from the table.

Sunrise and sunset

Tanzania lies just below the equator. The sun rises at much the same time all year, between half past six and seven, and sets at much the same time too, between half past six and seven in the evening. Twelve hours of light, twelve hours of dark, in January and in July.

On safari that rhythm shapes your day. The best hours are the first two after sunrise and the last one before sunset. That is why you leave early, and why the middle of the day is for resting.

Swahili time, saa moja is 7am

In Swahili the day does not begin at midnight. It begins at sunrise. The clock starts counting at around six in the morning, and the first hour after that is saa moja, the first hour. Which makes it seven o'clock in the morning.

Swahili	Literally	Your clock
saa moja asubuhi	the first hour, morning	7am
saa mbili asubuhi	the second hour	8am
saa sita mchana	the sixth hour, midday	noon
saa kumi na mbili jioni	the twelfth hour, evening	6pm
saa moja usiku	the first hour, night	7pm

To convert, add or subtract six hours.

A guide who works with international travellers will do the maths for you. But when you arrange something with a driver, a market trader or someone in a village, ask whether he means Swahili time or saa za kizungu, European time. Otherwise you will be ready at eight for something that was set for two.

More Swahili on our page about the language in Tanzania.

Jet lag

From Europe the difference is one to three hours, and you will barely notice it. From North America it is seven to eleven hours, and your body will feel it for a day or two. Either way the flight is long. KLM flies direct from Amsterdam in about nine hours and lands in the evening, and most other routes involve a change. That is why most of our trips begin with a night in Moshi or Arusha before you head into the parks. More on our page about the Tanzania airport.

Your first morning in Tanzania

You land, your guide is waiting with your name on a sign, and you spend your first night at the foot of Kilimanjaro. How the days after that unfold is laid out in our itineraries.

View our itineraries