Kenya camping:Travel Shopping in Tanzania

Every visitor to Tanzania will take away with them something special to remind them of their lifetime safari.  Be it a ring fitted with glittering Tanzanite or a carving of giraffe or buffalo on the wind-swept plains, you will be spoilt with choices of diverse authentic artifacts that Tanzania has to offer.Regional specialities and unique finds include Masaai beadwork, gourds and spears from northern Tanzania not forgetting the famous Makonde woodcarvings of people and wildlife. Woven mkeka mats make good floor coverings, straw-colored kind are woven from sisal by craftsmen in Karatu, near the Crater Highlands.

On the coast, the women of Mafia Island are particularly renowned for their colorful mkeka weaving and incorporate colors and designs (among them ‘gecko’s backbone’, ‘the Arab’s scarf’, and ‘popcorn’) into the mats they make from dried and twisted palm fronds.

Baskets often make great storage places for magazines and newspapers back at home and often double as handbags. The best come from Singida, and most craft shops in Dar es Salaam and Arusha will carry them. In Zanzibar, old tiles, bowls, and carved wooden chests make fantastic souvenirs of your journey to the coast.

Apart from regional specialties, there are a variety of smaller local items that make great presents and take-home souvenirs. Bright printed clothes called kangas are worn by women all over Tanzania. They’re sold in pairs and emblazoned with a witticism or traditional proverb. Kangas go in and out of style – look around and you’ll see this season’s fashions on women from Dar es Salaam to the shores of Lake Victoria.

Kikois are similar in shape and size to kangas, but are traditionally worn by the men of the Swahili coast as wrap-around sarongs. Woven with vertical stripes, kikois make popular gifts and are simpler and more demure than the bright colors and prints of women’s kangas.

If you’re looking for special food or delicacies of Tanzania, pick up bags of Zanzibar spices direct from the market – vanilla beans fresh off the tree, bags of whole cloves and round nutmegs laced with mace make great gifts for cooks back home. Honey direct from Tabora in central Tanzania is also a special delicacy.Tanzania is the world’s only source of tanzanite, a semi-precious stone found in the open mines around Arusha. The stone comes in three grades, ‘A’, ‘AA’, and ‘AAA’ – ‘AAA’ is the highest quality.

The deep blue of Tanzanite is magnificent, ranging from ultramarine to a light purplish blue. The most coveted color is a blue which shows a purplish hue shimmering around it, which is extremely spectacular in sizes above ten carats.

Fakes abound, so if you’re going to invest in one of Tanzania’s largest exports, be sure to do it right. Don’t buy from dealers on the street or anyone who looks suspect. Most licensed curios shops and dealers stock different grades, cuts, and colors of the popular gem and please be sure to follow export procedure.

Responsible tourism entails refraining from supporting trades or services that do harm to the people or the environment, and travelers to Tanzania should be very aware its importance. Please avoid purchasing wildlife products such as ivory and skins as the market created by these purchases encourages poaching and terrible injuries to the animals themselves.

Removal of coral, shells from turtles or any other kind of marine animal also causes a tremendous upset to the balance of marine life which is more often than not impossible to correct. Wood carvings too, should be checked to ensure that the material comes from a renewable, sustainable source.