Safariland Tanzania — Local services in Arusha

African Galleria is conveniently located in Arusha, and appears to be a favorite stop for tour companies. I’m sure there is some kick back that the tour companies receive (we used Kensington Tours, which btw is an excellent tour company for safaris). That being said, our family was extremely pleased with the service, and highly impressed with the quality of art exhibited at this store. They have some absolutely stunning ebony carvings, beautiful tanzanite and other jewelry, traditional Tanzanian artwork, and a great restaurant as well. Their bathrooms are extremely clean and modern, and probably rival those of anything found in the US. The owner is very pleasant and makes easy conversation with his patrons. I found him to be genuine, hard-working, and an honest businessman trying to make a living. He’s done well for himself, but has been generous with his good fortune by building schools in the town of Arusha, and providing wells for drinking water to the local people. Yes, his prices are expensive, but everything is negotiable, and this store is obviously a clear outlier in all of East Africa. It provides a little respite from the normal safari game drives, and if you’re shopping here, it probably means you’re on vacation. So why not spend a little bit of money? 😂😂. Anyways, I would highly recommend stopping here if you are in Arusha, and I look forward to the next time we are here visiting the amazing country...

Nice place to stop and view souvenirs and art in a comfortable setting. Offers the most beautiful bathrooms around. Really, like and art gallery! I bought a Tanzanite here as I was unsure I would have time to look for one when at Arusha. I was very tired from two weeks of rigorous safari schedules and only spent time looking at Tanzanites stones and jewels. The owner's son ( or so I understood) greeted me politely and gave a brief story of the store and its development and proceeded to show me different pieces of what I was looking for. In the end he suggested I go for a piece that was way more than what I wanted spend. I bargained with him to a bit less than 50% the original price and purchased it. The piece is beautiful. Yet. I ended up not feeling totally good about my purchase. I felt did not bargain enough as a result of being tired.. Several days later I was able to visit other places in Arusha to compare. The end result , I have a beautiful piece at a fair price. Bargaining is a must here as the initial price is way over price ( some places in Arusha have fixed prices). Asante sana .... Although I was not entirely satisfied until...

Bought a Tanzanite stone and some souvenirs here. Overall, its a nice and big store with the biggest selection of souvenir goods in Tanzania.

Sadly, none of their prices are fair by default. Its expected to heavily negotiate the prices - you can get up to 60% discounts. Some sellers might tell you that the prices are fixed (looking at you, jewelry store) - this is a lie and can be resolved by simply going to another salesman in the same store. Sad!

The negotiation ends with both parties being unhappy when a purchase is made: 1) The seller pretends to be unhappy because he sells you something for such a low price - While he still makes money, of course 2) you are unhappy because you still paid a lot (and have a feeling that you overpaid). It also leads to both parties wasting a lot of time that can be spent better (e. g. on safari).

I would recommend the store to just write down fair prices from beginning. Their current strategy wont work for long with the availability of...