Tanzania shopping
In all the tourist towns, curio shops sell wooden animals, batik, jewellery, pottery and wickerwork (bags and baskets made of sisal fibre). Masai handicrafts (shields, beads, lances, carved gourds) are available everywhere that tourists roam. Whatever you buy, make a habit of haggling.
If you buy Makonde sculptures, make sure you're getting the genuine article: many pieces are carved from lighter wood and dyed with boot polish. Real ebony weighs a ton.
You can also bring home African cottons-brightly coloured kikoi with printed patterns, which the men knot round their waist like a skirt-and precious or semi-precious stones. As well as rubies, sapphires, rhodolite (a kind of garnet) and malachite, you will find tsavorite, which looks something like an emerald, and the highly prized violet-blue tanzanite.
Spices are readily available; take home a bag or two and put some sun into your cooking.
