Learn Tanzania before you go

10 phrases to learn

In Swahili (Kiswahili). Capital letters show the stressed part. Tap the heart to practise a phrase later.

At the table

• Wash your hands before and after the meal. In many homes a jug of water and a bowl are brought round for this.
• Eat with your right hand, and pass and receive food and drink with your right hand too.
• To eat ugali, pull off a small piece, roll it into a ball, press a dent in it with your thumb and use it to scoop up stew or beans.
• Elders and guests are usually served first. Wait until the eldest person has started before you begin.
• Accept tea or food when it is offered, even a little; refusing can seem unfriendly.
• Much of the coast and almost all of Zanzibar is Muslim. Pork and alcohol are not served in many homes, and during Ramadan it is polite not to eat or drink in public in the daytime.

Local tips

Dishes to try

• Ugali: Maize flour cooked in boiling water until it becomes a firm, smooth dough. It is served in a mound, and pieces are pulled off with the right hand, rolled into a ball and used to scoop up beans, greens, fish or stew. It is the everyday staple of the mainland.
• Nyama choma: Goat meat, beef or chicken grilled slowly over charcoal with little more than salt, cut into bite-sized pieces and eaten with the hands, usually with ugali or grilled bananas and a fresh kachumbari salad.
• Mishkaki: Small cubes of marinated beef or goat threaded onto skewers and grilled over charcoal. They are a favourite street food in the evening, often eaten with chipsi mayai and chilli sauce.
• Chipsi mayai (Chipsi mayai, also called zege): Freshly fried chips cooked into an omelette in the pan, so the egg holds the potatoes together like a flat cake. It is sold at food stands from big towns to small villages and served with kachumbari or chilli sauce.
• Pilau: Rice cooked in a meat broth with cumin, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and black pepper, which turn it a warm brown. It is made with beef, chicken or goat and is the dish for weddings, Eid and other celebrations, served with kachumbari.
• Rice and beans (Wali na maharage): A plate of plain or coconut rice topped with a stew of red kidney beans, one of the most common everyday meals in homes and small restaurants across the country.
• Bananas with meat (Ndizi nyama): Green cooking bananas stewed with beef or goat, onions and tomatoes, sometimes with coconut milk, until the bananas are soft and have soaked up the sauce.
• Mtori: A thick, creamy soup of green bananas cooked with beef and then mashed, sometimes with potatoes and milk. It is eaten at any time of day and is traditionally given to new mothers because it is soft and nourishing.

Cities to see

• Dodoma (capital): The National Assembly (Bunge), The new Government City on the edge of town, Its central position on the road and railway across the country.
• Dar es Salaam: The busy Kariakoo market, Ferries to Zanzibar, Beaches and fish markets.
• Mwanza: Bismarck Rock, standing in the lake, Fishing for Nile perch and tilapia, Ferries across Lake Victoria.
• Arusha: Safari trips to the northern parks, Mount Meru and Arusha National Park, The headquarters of the East African Community.
• Zanzibar City: Stone Town and its carved wooden doors, The evening food market in Forodhani Gardens, Spice farms nearby.
• Mbeya: Farming: maize, rice, bananas and potatoes, The Great North Road towards Zambia and Malawi, The TAZARA railway to Zambia.

Landmarks and the city map are on the Tanzania trip