Cultural tours are a popular product in Tanzania that is mostly sold as an add-on to enrich main safari tour programs. Most cultural tour sites in mainland Tanzania were developed by the Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB) in conjunction with the Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV), starting with selected villages around Arusha in northern Tanzania and spreading out into other areas. These are traditionally existing villages that have been made accessible to visitors who may have a glimpse of the authentic lifestyle of the more than 120 tribes in rural Tanzania.

 

Besides enriching itineraries and adding quality to the tours offered in Tanzania, the cultural tours are generating direct income to the local communities that are being visited, contributing to their development. Thus by visiting the cultural sites, the guests would be giving support to community health, water supply, primary education, and many other social and economic projects carried out at the village level as well as reforestation and protection of the environment.

Some of the popular cultural centers which may be tailored into visitor itineraries include:

• Mto Wa Mbu, a multicultural village-cum-town near Lake Manyara National Park
• Maasai Boma and villages in Ngorongoro Conservation Area
• Lake Eyasi: land of the Hadzabe and Datoga
• Arusha – Ng’ireshi village of Waarusha tribe, relatives of the Maasai, 7km from Arusha town
• Arusha – Mulala village of Waarusha and Wameru tribes, 30kms from Arusha town