Marera Village Gallery — Local services in Arusha

STAY WELL AWAY!! SCAM ARTISTS that will ROB YOU BLIND! I'm ok to negociate a little bit the price down but there is a limit and i didn't like being taken for an idiot and a pigeon. There is no price written anywhere so they pull one out of thin air depending on your nationality, your colour or your clothes: they must have though i was a rich american as they asked me for $30 for 500g of coffee (RIP OFF) that you can buy 5 times cheaper in europe. I would divide by half anything they sell in there!! They have what seems to be great stock but apart from the paintings, i saw the exact same articles in Thailand so i'd saw they buy in bulk in China and sell to tourists for a great margin. Their technique is to tell you, "just pick whatver you want and we'll arrange ourselves on the price later": i was so angry at my guide for bringing me here. Later on, at the gift shop of my hotel, i found the same articles for less than half the price, locally sources from "made by...

They have every souvenir you would like to take from Tanzania. So I highly recommend to buy here if you like the things they have: you won’t find anything that they don’t have elsewhere, and everything is well made. It is expensive, but they are flexible with prices. Pick up everything you want and then bargain with the people who work there. I bought lots of things and I’m very happy with everything! Ebony tableware very nice. All types of wood animals, masks and wood things. Painted shields as the Masai. Masai objects. Colorful jewelry. Tanzanite....

Very expensive prices even though contracted. Store not at all typical, but definitely westernized, looks like a shopping mall. The guides, with whom you do the Safaris, take you to places similar to this, instead of to local stores ( where besides spending less you could give concrete help to the needy population), since they have an agreement with this department store: at the end of the year the guides who will have brought more tourists will receive gifts from the owners.

Do not be taken there and specifically ask to go to...