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Capital of Bagamoyo, Pwani, Tanzania
Photo: Christine und Hagen Graf from Fitou, France, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Bagamoyo is a town in Tanzania with a colonial history and an active art scene.
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The busy port area and local fish market. Watch dhows getting loaded or note the concrete posts on which slaves were bound for display and sale.
A museum on the town's history, divided in three sections: Slavery, Missionary & Bagamoyo history. Just behind is a famous Baobab tree that grew around a goat chain.
Basins with water and salt sediments.
Walk along the beach marveling at the mangrove forests growing in the sea. Since there aren't many people around this area, beware of muggings and don't do this alone.
Tanzania’s prima art college. There are some exhibitions on campus and there’s often music or artistic shows or practices to be watched. This is also the place for some of the annual music festival happening in Bagamoyo.
You can ask to go to the roof of the Millenium Old Post Office Hotel from where there is a great view over the city and the busy port and fish-market area.
A small village 3 km south of Bagamoya along an unsealed coast road. There are several things to see here:
The medieval Kaole ruins. The ruin of the mosque dates to the 13th and 14th centuries.
A crocodile farm, where you can see crocodiles from babies to 50-year old ones in concrete basins. They are grown mainly for their skin, but also for meat.
A relatively cheap restaurant next to the road that serves a bit more than the ubiquitous local food. Just behind it is a local’s favorite place for Chipsi Mayai (TSh 2,000).
A nice and quiet place to get something to eat and drink. While some question quality of the food, the food is delicious and there’s a good variety. They also have milk shakes and beer.
A local eatery, mainly serving rice with sauce and some meat at slightly inflated prices. Sometimes there’s great fresh fruit juice though (TSh 1,500).
At a central point in Bagamoyo it's a nice place to get something really cheap to eat, unless you mind the noise from the TV. A few dishes (mostly chicken, chips, omelettes).
The bar has a street side patio which is great for drinking beer and watching the local scene. Even though they play great music in the bar, noise from the TV covers it.
The only (non-azam) ice-cream shop in town. However both the ice-cream and the dry pastries disappoint.
A very calm tropical lodge with several rooms, not far from the beach, but it's 15 minutes to walk to the city center.
The old market area is now the art market where there is a seemingly infinite amount of pictures available, as well as some local craftswork. Since many of the pictures you can find elsewhere in the country were painted in Bagamoyo, prices can be much cheaper here, although bargaining will always be required.
Here self-caterers find most things they need: from veggies to rice or fresh fish.
A smaller space where you can meet local arts and crafts people working, and commission and buy paintings, jewelry, pottery, carvings and more.
Situated 70 km on the main northern trunk from Dar es Salaam on a good tar-seal road.
Read in the guideThe city is pretty walkable, for longer distances or with luggage you can choose from a motorcycle pikipiki, bajaji (from TSh 1,500) or a taxi (from TSh 3,000).
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Zanzibar · International · ZNZ
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