Dar es Salaam, Tanzania — Shopping
Shopping in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Shopping in Dar es Salaam is a lot of fun, with plenty of souvenirs to pick up in local markets.
Markets
Local-style markets worth visiting include Ilala Market on Uhuru Street or the sprawling Kariakoo Market on Msimbazi and Mkunguni Streets. Take a local guide, leave all valuables behind and watch out for pickpockets. Kariakoo Market in the city’s most distinctively African quarter, west of the center, is this lively and colorful daily covered market offering a riot of stalls selling pungent produce, spices, cooked meat, textiles and homewares. Handicrafts are available from the Msasani Slipway Weekend Craft Market, which is calmer and has better-quality goods than elsewhere in town. The Mwenge Carvers' Market on Sam Nujoma Road is full of stalls and craftsmen at work.
Key areas
The local artists' cooperative Nyumba ya Sanaa (Nyerere Cultural Center) on Ohio Street sells good-quality textiles and regional crafts; you can watch the artisans at work here. Wood-carvings and paintings can also be bought from the Mawazo Art Gallery in the YMCA grounds on Upanga Road. Vibrantly colorful Tingatinga paintings, as first marketed by Edward Said Tingatinga, can be bought from the Tingatinga Center on Haile Selassie Road. Artists can also be seen working on projects here.
