souvenir hunting in the Mwenge Crafts Market, Dar es Salaam

Only have a few hours in Dar es Salaam and need to buy some souvenirs? Hop on a taxi or a dala dala bus and head to Dar’s biggest crafts market in Mwenge.

Even if you don’t know Swahili, English is widely spoken by the vendors. The range of artwork represents what is native to Tanzania or even Kenya, from beadwork jewelry to wood carvings, Tinga Tinga paintings and local fabrics. As in any arts market, goods can be had cheap if you know how to bargain. As a rule of thumb, sellers usually jack up the prices by as much as 4x so start by offering a quarter of the original quote. If you like one item, don’t express too much interest. It helps too to back off and say no as typically, vendors will chase you with a lower bid. Check other stalls to compare prices.


Mwenge sits along a major highway in Dar



The market has a large quadrangle in the center which makes browsing easy


The selection is immense and it can work to your advantage. Take time to acquaint yourself with what are in store. Move around. You can always come back to haggle on items you really fancy.


The paintings are copies of art styles popularized by renowned painters like Tinga Tinga



It is not uncommon to see natives like this Masai man in the market



Tanzania shirts come in African “batik” that often uses the tie dye technique


It was my second time to visit Mwenge and like before, it was late afternoon. As the market closes at sundown, shopowners are in a hurry too to get some last day sale so this can work to your advantage. Wear a smile and enjoy.


A carver busy at work. I bought a 7”x14” ebony bowl that is carved out from one block of wood for $15. Original offer was about $34. I bought a similar one last 2005 at less than $10



I bought this Masai shuka fabric for about $7.5

To go: The Mwenge Crafts Market is in Sam Nujoma Road, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The complex is near the University of Dar es Salaam and cannot be missed. Unfortunately, during rush hour, traffic around the area can be horrendous.

Portraits of Tanzania

Portraiture is a peek into someone’s life, personality and story. Emotions can be frozen, tales can be imagined and relationships can be connected through photography. My Canon 350D Rebel, my first dSLR, was just a week old when I traveled to Tanzania in November of 2005, a country in East Africa I have visited twice in the past. I took some time to do some street photography and here are some portraits and their stories.

hint of a smile

There's a certain magnetic sadness in the shopkeeper’s smile. I was buying some souvenirs in a store in Dar when I saw one of the lady tenders sitting in a corner, alone and still. I asked permission to take her photo. i took her silence as a yes and she did not move really when I took pictures of her. She just sat there, staring, looking straight into the camera, perhaps curious at my curiousity in her.


Mwegne market, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, East Africa
Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/30s, f/5.6, 24mm, ISO 100


colorful clothes

These children were whiling their time in front of the seaweed buying station at Paje Beach. Their mothers were busy sorting the seaweed and manually baling 100kg of seaweed. The tide difference in Tanzania is 8-10 meters and there are only 2 (extreme) low tides in a month which allows for the women to plant and harvest the crop farmed almost a kilometer into the sea. I between low tides, it is the turn for the men to fish for seaweed farming for them is too feminine. Ahh, culture.


Paje, Zanzibar, East Africa
Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/80s, f/4.5, 34mm, ISO 100


making something for himself

There is one moment in the a tour in Zanzibar which rent my heart even up to now. This boy was the most eager one who greeted us at the last stop of the tour- the fruit stalls. It turned out that he was not pining for commissions from any potential sales but was enthusiastic to learn Italian from our guide. We obliged and let the guide free for 30 minutes while he answered the questions the boy peppered rapidly. His dictionary after all was Italian-English and not Italian-Swahili. Later the guide shared to us that he always hope to get a spice tour as he has developed a brotherly affection for the boy. Apparently, the guide learned Italian and English the hard way- by toiling at an Italian-owned restaurant and conversing with guests. Once, he too could not afford formal lessons.


Kzembani-Kdechi, Zanzibar, Tanzania, East Africa
Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/30s, f/5.6, 21mm, ISO 100


responsibility

In Tanzania, as well as in any other developing country, everybody helps out. Child labor? No, it is responsibility- only that stakes are high. School, free it may be, is even a luxury if your parents don't pull their own weight. It was lunchbreak so this boy dutifully went to the warehouse straight from school to pick up used sacks that were earlier delivered full of dried seaweed. Polypropylene sacks don't come cheap. They have to be imported all the way from afar (the Philippines, Indonesia, Dubai) and warehouses give them out sparingly. So you take care of what was given to you and make sure you get to use them for another day.


Paje, Zanzibar, Tanzania, East Africa
Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/320s, f/5.6, 31mm, ISO 100


girl in hijab

She was a student going home to school. It was lunchtime and school was on a break. I found the seed on her lower lip fascinating. It was pomegranate I think. Why the schoolgirl left it there escaped me. There must some lingering tartness or sweetness that it imparts for I don't think she was oblivious of its presence.


Paje, Southeast Zanzibar, Tanzania, East Africa
Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/400s, f/5.0, 44mm, ISO 100


public runway

Why did they pose for me? They were across the public market at Dar when they saw me and my camera. I had a ready smile I guess and a faster camera. They began posing and the street became their catwalk. Their eager smiles were a gem.


at the public market at Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, East Africa
Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/200s, f/10, 55mm, ISO 100