Swahili Slow Travel in Tanzania: Kanga Homestay Accommodation

At One Planet Journey, we believe travel should immerse you in the culture of a destination, and in Tanzania, that idea has made it into the language itself. Founder Dominik Horber created Kanga Homestay to help travellers experience life pole pole (“slowly, slowly”), staying with local families in Arusha, Moshi, Dar es Salaam, and Zanzibar. Learn Swahili greetings, cook together, join daily chores, and feel the rhythm of village life. If you’ve ever wondered what it truly means to practise slow travel, this is your invitation to step inside Tanzania’s homes, kitchens, and stories.

The Swahili proverb that says “slow travel” in Tanzania 

As any slow traveller knows, it’s essential to learn a few basic phrases when you travel. “Yes,” “No,” “Please,” “Thank you, “Where’s the bathroom,” – sure, they’ll help you make your way through hidden corners and locals-only layers. But to really unlock the lives, homes, and histories of a place and its people, it’s all about the idioms. To find out how you say “slow travel” in Swahili, we’re travelling to Kanga Homestays, locally owned accommodations in the regions of Arusha, Moshi, Dar es Salaam, and Zanzibar Island in Tanzania.

Swahili – a linguistic melting pot 

Across the East African countries of Kenya, Tanzania, and Mozambique, the Swahili language unites communities and cultures. Like the diverse places it connects, the language itself evolved through interactions between local Bantu tribes and Arabic traders. Swahili became a modern mix of these influences, along with the occasional loanwords from English, Portuguese and Hindustani.

Language mirrors those who speak it, expressing their values and priorities. Along with the spices and minerals carried by the traders, the language canonised its favourite phrases on wearable bolts of fabric known today as Kangas, the living symbol of Tanzania. On such a fabric, you might find the words of one of Tanzania’s most closely held proverbs, reflecting the essence of slow travel:

“Haraka haraka, haina baraka.” Literally, “Hurry hurry, has no blessing,” or “Nothing good comes when you do things fast.”

Intentionally embrace the local pace in Tanzania 

Embracing the mantra, the travel agency Kanga Homestay offers guests in Tanzania a meaningful opportunity to stay with a local family and experience village or small town life, adapting pole pole (“slowly, slowly”) to the ways of the typical Tanzanian. Fully honouring the proverb, guests spend at least three days with a host. This ensures an immersive visit without the rush or other travellers.

When they arrive, they’ll meet local villagers, exchange Swahili greetings, and embrace the pace of home life in Tanzania. During their stay in a private room, guests engage in hands-on activities that highlight the daily rhythm of community life. Whether learning the art of Maasai beadwork, cooking traditional meals, or fetching water with donkeys, each moment is a chance to connect with the gentle flow of local routines and rituals.

As cultural anthropologist Judith Chale explains, this proverb isn’t common to all Swahili speakers or East Africans. It’s the special domain of Tanzanians, and in fact originates with the people who make their homes around the islands. This includes the Zanzibaris, the people of Dar es Salaam, and the Chagga tribe, groups represented among Kanga Homestay’s local hosts.

But as Judith explains, Tanzanians delight in contrasting their slowness with the rush of their neighbours. “In Kenya, everyone tends to be in a hurry. In Tanzania, we say that when you do things quickly, you don’t make good decisions. We tell the younger generation that if they want to succeed in something, they should do it slowly and think carefully about it.”

So moving slowly is not just descriptive; it’s virtuous.

Proverbial Origins 

As with all proverbs, their origins may be somewhat… proverbial. That is to say, who really knows? According to Chale’s story, the expression goes back to the Maji-Maji War, a Tanzanian rebellion against the colonising forces in East Africa in 1905. The name of the war, Maji, refers to a water medicine (maji dawa) which the village chiefs told their local soldiers had the power to turn colonial bullets into water.

The chiefs then proclaimed “pole pole”, encouraging the soldiers to stay calm, rather than frantically running from the bullets. They could take their time, “slowly, slowly,” to stay in their villages, and protect their homes and families. Because nothing good comes from being in a hurry.

Of course, the bullets did not turn to water, and many East Africans lost their lives during the two-year uprising. As Chale explains, the story about the water, and the command to take things slowly and intentionally formed part of a more psychological strategy: “The chief wanted them to have courage to face the battle with perseverance, continue to defend their land, and fight for independence; that’s why we needed the promise of the water medicine and that proverb,” she says.

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Patience pays off 

Similar proverbs teach this lesson, too: “Bandu bandu humaliza gogo”, or “Little by little, the log finishes itself.” It means that with patience and steady effort, one can complete big or difficult tasks. And indeed, time wore down the colonising forces.

In 1964, both the island of Zanzibar and mainland Tanganyika achieved independence and united to form the single state of Tanzania, where the Swahili proverb continues to play an important part in the culture. Travellers, too, integrate into the pace when staying at a Kanga Homestay in a village, or meeting a family in accommodation on the island.

In Tanzania, On Swahili Time 

Many travellers first meet Tanzania by way of Arusha, the gateway city to Mount Kilimanjaro climbs and safaris in Serengeti National Park. With an agenda set, Arusha amounts to just a blip on the radar, a single-night layover before the main trip. And with everyone trying to sell you a safari, it’s easy to see why tourists hurry. This, in fact, inspired Kanga Homestay’s founder, Dominik Horber, to start a homestay agency with a new slow travel concept:

“Encounters with locals should not mean just rushing to villages with a large group of tourists for a staged performance and to snap a photo. There should be space for meaningful connections, to explore life with the local people and interact with them on a deeper level, at the local pace. That’s the vision Kanga Homestay embodies.”

Slow Travel Tanzanian style 

In essence, Dominik wanted to experience pole pole, not the tourist speed. Talking to locals in Dar es Salaam, he found a warm welcome, neither pushy nor obtrusive. Instead, he encountered Tanzanians willing to answer questions, offer advice and start a conversation. 

Besides homes, Dominik also found some overlooked treasures tourists often miss in Dar es Salaam, like Kariakoo Market, where locals come for food and goods. The tightly packed market stalls, cramped pathways, and thick, sweaty heat all necessitate that visitors move like molasses, snaking slowly from vendor to vendor, admiring colours, absorbing smells, listening to Swahili calls, and wandering in directions never intended. 

It’s the intentional aimlessness that allows you to ask questions and consider options, maybe taking a slow lap or two around the stalls before deciding on your final purchase and heading home with your well-chosen market spoils. As another Swahili proverb reminds us, “Subira huvuta heri,” or, “Patience brings blessings.”

POLE POLE IN A LOCAL Tanzanian HOMESTAY 

This is how one operates in Tanzania: take it slowly, and do it well. The home garden is no different, with an amateur cultivator deeply considering a plant’s medicinal uses as well as the beauty, variety, and enjoyment before committing to the seeds. And don’t forget the time it takes to absorb advice from friends, neighbours, family members, and elders before finally putting down roots in the soil – everybody has an opinion! Enjoy the process; it takes exactly as long as it needs to. That’s the beauty of slow travel with Kanga Homestay: staying in accommodation hosted by locals.

Living the local life in Tanzania 

Sabine, a recent guest at Kanga’s Kigamboni Homestay, on a peninsula opposite the port side of Dar es Salaam, found that you’re never far away from the typical Tanzanian pace of life, even when outside the city: “A few steps away from the main road, I found myself in a small village-like settlement. It was peaceful and almost dreamlike, with the laughter of playing children filling the air and the clucking of passing chickens. Enjoying the salty breeze blowing in from the nearby ocean, I walked along the sandy paths and admired the beautiful local accommodations. Each came framed by gardens overflowing with impressive trees, banana plants, and colourful flowers.”

Reaping the benefits of those carefully planted gardens, Sabine found herself living out another Swahili proverb. On assignment collecting bananas for a dish she made with her hosts the next day: “Mgeni siku ya kwanza, siku ya pili mpe jembe,” which means, “You’ll be a guest on the first day, but on the second day you pick up a shovel and help out.”

For unfiltered local experiences in Tanzania, check out Kanga Homestay or follow them on Instagram.

Have you been on a slow travel experience in Tanzania? Did you pick up any Swahili? Let us know in the comments. Subscribe to our newsletter and benefit from travel guides, sustainable tourism and luxury travel tips, insightful interviews, and inspirational places to visit. One Planet Journey – The World’s First Deep Travel Magazine.