Tanzania currency, cash and tipping
Tanzania weather
The population of Tanzania
What language is spoken in Tanzania?
Is Tanzania safe?
Vaccinations for Tanzania
Malaria in Tanzania
Which airport you fly into in Tanzania?
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Tanzanian food
Tanzanians eat ugali more than anything else, a firm porridge of maize flour, with vegetables, beans or meat on the side. On the street and in small restaurants you hear two more names again and again: nyama choma, grilled meat, and chipsi mayai, chips cooked into an omelette. On the coast and on Zanzibar the cooking turns to coconut and spice.
What you find everywhere
Dish | What it is |
Ugali | Maize flour porridge, firm enough to eat with your hand. You roll a small ball and use it to scoop up the sauce |
Nyama choma | Grilled meat, usually goat or beef, with salt and a tomato salad |
Chipsi mayai | Chips cooked into an omelette. Simple, and almost everyone loves it |
Wali na maharage | Rice with beans in sauce |
Mishkaki | Skewers of marinated meat from the grill |
Chapati | Flatbread, made by hand |
On the coast and on Zanzibar
The Swahili cooking of the coast is something else: coconut, cloves and spice, dishes such as pilau and biryani, and fish. At the Forodhani night market in Stone Town, stalls set up every evening with grilled fish and Zanzibar pizza, a stuffed pancake cooked on the hotplate.
What you eat on safari
With us, every meal is included in your trip. In the lodges and camps you eat a mix of international and Tanzanian food, often with a packed lunch or a picnic in the park. If you want to try something local, tell your guide and we will arrange it.
If you are vegetarian or follow a particular diet, let us know before you travel. The camp kitchens take it into account when they know in good time.
Water and food on the road
Drink only boiled or bottled water. There is always water in the vehicle.
Along the road you pass grills and markets with tomatoes stacked in pyramids. It smells good. Your guide will still advise you not to eat there, and that is no judgement on the food. Your stomach is not used to it, and you do not want to spend the next day in the park with a sore belly.
Coffee and tea
Coffee grows on the slopes of Kilimanjaro, and tea comes from the southern highlands. If you are in Moshi, you can spend a morning picking, roasting and grinding coffee yourself. Read more about the coffee tour in Moshi.
Every meal included
With us you never have to hunt for somewhere to eat along the way. What each trip includes, from the beds to the meals, you can see in every itinerary.