Tanzania - Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture

Culture Smart / Cultuur Bewust

by Quintin Winks

Don’t just see the sights—get to know the people. Culture Smart!  provides essential information on attitudes, beliefs and behavior in different countries, ensuring that you arrive at your destination aware of basic manners, common courtesies, and sensitive issues. These concise guides tell you what to expect, how to behave, and how to establish a rapport with your hosts. This inside knowledge will enable you to steer clear of embarrassing gaffes and mistakes, feel confident in unfamiliar situations, and develop trust and friendship with your hosts. Have a richer and more meaningful experience time abroad through a better understanding of the local culture. Chapters on values, attitudes, customs, and daily life will help you make the most of your visit, while tips on etiquette and communication will help you navigate unfamiliar situations and avoid faux pas.

Genres: Travel, Africa, Nonfiction, Tanzania, Cultural, Audiobook

168 pages, Paperback

First published August 4, 2009

Reviews

[Lisa]

The last third is dated and focused more at long term visitors/business folks. But I appreciated the cultural analysis and history of the first part. It was useful as I was about to visit Tanzania.

[Jami · Rating 1 out of 5]

Completely factually wrong. Did AI write this book? The author name sounds fake. No one edited it, for certain, as it states the population of Tanzania is 463.5 million. If that were true, that would make Tanzania the third largest country by population in the world, behind India and China, respectively. As of 2026, the actual population is 72.6 million people. 🙄 Tanzania is the 20th largest country by population, in fact.

It also states that the average life expectancy in Tanzania is only 51 years old!!! That did NOT sound right to me and Google says it is 67.5.

What idiot wrote this book and what idiots decided to publish it and list the NYT as a review source??? - THIS BOOK IS A LIE and it’s stupid and was probably written by AI.

Wow I am so angry that Amazon is publishing this rubbish.

[Boni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great tips on being polite, while immersing myself into my hosts’ Tanzanian world. The specificity of the title didn’t steer me wrong, maintaining a cultural focus, yet covering the full range of desired, broad aspects that are different from other typical travel books (including that dangerous zone of humor… e.g., I will test out in Swahili how to say “I feel fresh as a banana” and also steer away from the happy hour joke that starts “a Saudi, a Goan, and a Tanzanian walk into a bar…”. I sense that this read will be so helpful when I get there next month… though carry some fear that the world and the culture has been tweaked in the 12 years since this was written. We’ll see… Sometimes the world is an aquarium, eh.

[Peggy Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is a little outdated (published 2009), but gives a good overview of all things Tanzanian. Just received word that a visit to our Compassion International child Derick has been approved so we’ll be traveling there in January! Plan to fly to Nairobi to visit missionary friends then on to Tanzania—Serengeti, Zanzibar and Kilimanjaro (but not climbing on this trip!).

[Susan Flieder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really, really helpful book for our upcoming trip!

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thorough guide covering a wide range of topics for anyone with a plan or wish to visit Tanzania. I listened on audible.

[Deborah Allen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice very basic introduction to the country. The section on communication needs an update. Nowadays most people are able to make financial transactions using a cell phone.

[Sam T · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good overview but I think slightly dated. Excited to test out TODAY!

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written primarily for a person who may live in Tanzania as a foreigner for a while, the book is a help for anyone interested in the culture, background and habits of the people living in Tanzania. It does not center on the tourists Safari, but is a great guide on how not to be "An Ugly American" if anyone still remembers the phrase from the 1900's. It has history and customs of Tanzania and what is part of Tanzania but so different, the Saychelles. Interesting- always extend the right hand and if it is too full, give an arm or elbow, never a left hand. Always do small talk when meeting someone first but never ask them what they do for work. Know that their pleasure time is more valued than their work time in this subsistence land. Use American dollars, people will be happy to accept them.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good, straight forward primer on how to behave politely in Tanzania. Tanzanians seem to me to be quite patient with foreigners blundering around socially, but still, Tanzanian manners are much more complicated and demanding than American manners (well, maybe everybody's are--we're all pretty casual). After spending over a year in Tanzania, then reading this book, I found it to be accurate and helpful. I especially liked that the author, a foreigner, is respectful of Tanzanian culture. (I'm partway through the Botswana guide, by a different author who is disdainful of Botwanans.)

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some great, straigh-forward information for my trip!

[Kim B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very handy during our travels there in 2011.