Formerly known as the National Museum, this attraction close to the Botanic Gardens contains some snapshots of Tanzania’s rich cultural heritage. It retains famous fossil discoveries made by paleoanthropologist and archaeologist, Louis Leakey, in Olduvai Gorge, plus historical displays on regional civilisations, the development of the slave trade and the German and British colonial periods of Tanzania's history. It is hard to avoid the fact that the collection, as it stands, is limited and somewhat patchy, but it’s interesting nonetheless. Exhibits range quirkily from historic craft exhibits and prehistoric skulls to guides on ridding a house of termites. The museum also has an attractive courtyard and a café shaded by a huge Banyan tree.
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Things to see in Dar es Salaam
Tourist offices
Tanzania Tourist Board
Address: IPS Building, 3rd Floor, Dar es Salaam, PO Box 2485, Tanzania
Tel: (022) 211 1244.
Opening Hours:
0930-1730.
www.tanzaniatouristboard.com/
National Museum and House of Culture
Opening Times: 0900-1830.
Admission Fees: Yes
Disabled Access: No
UNESCO: No
Address:
Shaaban Robert Street, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Telephone: (022) 211 7508.
Website:
www.houseofculture.or.tz
Village Museum
If you’re not going to make it into rural Tanzania, the Village Museum provides a good survey of the sort of architecture that is found there. This open-air museum features a collection of 19 authentically reconstructed dwellings that show traditional ways of living for different ethnic groups throughout Tanzania. These ways of life still endure in many areas of the country. Situated 10km (6 miles) north of the city centre, the museum also lays on traditional dance and music performances during the afternoons, and is partly aimed at teaching urban Tanzanian children and teens about the cultural heritage of their rural cousins.
Opening Times: 0930-1830.
Admission Fees: Yes
Disabled Access: No
UNESCO: No
Address:
New Bagamayo Road at Makaburi Street, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Telephone: (022) 270 0437.
Askari Monument
The role of East African soldiers in the First World War is little known internationally, but is commemorated by this key Dar es Salaam monument. Askaris were African soldiers recruited by the colonial powers, and during the First World War they fought in small numbers on both sides in a series of battles across East and central Africa. This bronze monument, unveiled under British rule in 1927, commemorates local deaths on the British side of the conflict, and includes an inscription in English and Swahili by Rudyard Kipling. The monument is now a popular focal point for street hawkers.
Opening Times: Daily 24 hours.
Admission Fees: No
Disabled Access: No
UNESCO: No
Address:
corner of Samora Avenue and Azikiwe Street, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Nyumba Ya Sanaa (Nyerere Cultural Centre)
Founded back in 1972, this centre also known as the 'House of Arts', is a handicrafts hub where young artisans congregate to work, display and sell their wares. Jewellery, textiles, pottery, etchings, paintings and carvings are all on display, many of them available at very reasonable rates. There's also the chance for visitors to participate in actually making some of the craft work too. The centre lays on traditional dance performances at the weekends, when a bar and small restaurant open to accompany the shows.
Admission Fees: No
Disabled Access: No
UNESCO: No
Address:
Ohio Street, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Telephone: (022) 213 1727.
Azania Front Lutheran Church
Another grand church built during the German colonial period, this protestant church is a style best described as tropical Bavarian. With its whitewashed walls, jutting red tiled canopies and leafy gardens facing out over the harbour, it’s one of central Dar es Salaam’s prettiest spots. There’s not a massive amount to see in the handsome, sober interior, but in the days before air conditioning, its cool, shaded aisles would have been a revelation. If you’re lucky, you’ll arrive during the church’s sporadic choir practices, when you can hear the sound of singing drifting out into the street.
Admission Fees: No
Disabled Access: Yes
UNESCO: No
Address:
Corner of Sokoine Drive and Azikiwe Street , Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Botanical Gardens
Just across the road from the National Museum, these tranquil gardens have shrunk a bit since they were first laid out by the Germans at the end of the 19th century. However, it is still an enchanting spot with its pathways flanked by bougainvillea, Jacaranda and scarlet-blossomed flame trees. There’s a good collection of native trees and plants here, while the free-roaming peacocks add a suitably decorative note.
Opening Times: 0930-1830.
Admission Fees: No
Disabled Access: Yes
UNESCO: No
Address:
Samora Avenue, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
St Joseph’s Cathedral
This impressive neo-gothic church on the Dar es Salaam waterfront looks almost like it’s been teleported here from suburban Berlin and is still surprised to find itself surrounded by palm trees. Built by the Germans in 1897, as testified on the original inscriptions still visible in the nave, the church is the centre of the Catholic Diocese of Dar es Salaam. The most enduring monument to Tanzania’s brief spell as a German colony, the cathedral’s best feature is the stained glass windows looming behind the altar.
Admission Fees: No
Disabled Access: Yes
UNESCO: No
Address:
Sokoine Drive, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Msasani Peninsula
If you spend any time in Dar es Salaam, sooner or later you’ll end up on the Msasani Peninsula. Just north from the city centre, this green, beach-fringed headland jutting out into the ocean is the city’s wealthiest area, containing many embassies and sprawling villas as well the homes of the majority of Dar’s western ex-pats. Don’t come expecting anything too sleek however – roads here still tend to be rocky, while the chief attraction is not chic shopping but the beach bars at Oyster Bay or the sundown views from the restaurants on Msasani’s western coast. Many of Dar’s better restaurants and a few good bars are also clustered here, and the contrast with the busy, bustling centre is striking.
Opening Times: Daily 24 hours.
Admission Fees: No
Disabled Access: Yes
UNESCO: No
Address:
Msasani Peninsula, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
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