Published on and written by Cyril Jarnias
Leaving one’s home country to settle in Tanzania, whether in Dar es Salaam, Arusha, Zanzibar, or Moshi, is often an exciting project. Safaris, the Indian Ocean, Mount Kilimanjaro, multiple cultures… everything seems promising. And yet, behind the postcard images, the same feeling comes back for many expatriates: homesickness. Studies show that during the first year abroad, between 20% and 90% of people experience a form of nostalgia, ranging from mild to intense. This is neither a weakness nor an illness, but a normal emotional reaction to a massive shift in one’s bearings.
In Tanzania, homesickness can be intensified by a very different cultural environment, sometimes confusing infrastructure, strong public religiosity, and a less predictable pace of life. The goal is not to eliminate this feeling, but to tame it to preserve your experience and mental health.
This article proposes a comprehensive journey, rooted in Tanzanian reality: understanding what you feel, turning your home into a refuge, developing local and international relationships, using existing resources, and knowing when to ask for professional help. All with concrete examples drawn from expatriates’ lived experiences and the local context.
Understanding Homesickness in the Tanzanian Context
Homesickness is a complex mix of sadness, longing, anxiety, and sometimes anger. You miss your loved ones, your routines, your language, but also a sense of control and identity. Experts sometimes compare it to a minor grief: you must mourn an “old world” while learning to inhabit a new one.
In Tanzania, several factors can amplify these feelings.
The cultural break is often brutal. You go from a familiar environment to a country where more than 120 ethnic groups coexist, where greetings are long and essential, where you are expected to shake many hands with your right hand, and where it is considered impolite to refuse food or to sniff it before tasting it. The strong visibility of religion – between a continent shared between Christianity and Islam, the call to prayer, packed churches – surprises many newcomers unaccustomed to this public religiosity.
The daily grind shock in Tanzania, with its legendary traffic jams, crowded transportation, constant noise, and sometimes precarious infrastructure (water from a bucket, power outages, the need for mosquito nets), can weigh heavily on morale, especially during times of fatigue, sweating, and sleep disturbances.
The perception of being “wealthy” adds a layer of tension. Foreigners, particularly Europeans or North Americans, are often seen as well-off. In major cities, authorities recommend living in secure compounds, locking up well at night, and avoiding walking alone after dark. This constant vigilance can reinforce feelings of fragility and loneliness.
Add to that the language barrier. Kiswahili is the national language and remains dominant in the streets, markets, and services. English is widely used in business, administration, and higher education, but not everywhere, especially in rural areas. Finding yourself unable to understand a conversation or a joke can create that feeling of being “on the outside,” never truly integrated.
Finally, Tanzanian temporality – often summed up by the expression “Swahili time” or “pole pole” (slowly, take your time) – is a shock for expatriates accustomed to great punctuality. Deadlines stretch, appointments are sometimes vague, projects take on an unexpected rhythm. When you are lacking familiar bearings, this impression of mastering nothing can fuel nostalgia.
However, research shows that for many people, the intensity of homesickness tends to decrease over weeks and months, as you create new connections, new routines, and feel more competent in the new context.
Turning Your Home Into an Emotional Refuge
One of the most effective strategies against homesickness is to make your home a true refuge. In Tanzania, the importance of cleanliness and order in the house is very strong socially. Discussions about laundry frequency or the type of mop used are common. This relationship to the home can become an ally: a clean, comfortable, and personalized environment fosters a sense of control and security.
Expatriates settle mainly in major cities: Dar es Salaam, Dodoma, Arusha, Moshi, Mbeya, or Zanzibar Town. Rents remain lower than in the UK, but local culture often requires payment of several months – even a year – of rent in advance. Once this step is overcome, it is crucial to shape this place in your image.
Research indicates that personalizing your home reduces stress and strengthens the sense of belonging during an expatriation. This can include hanging family photos, placing your favorite books, or bringing familiar objects like a mug or knick-knacks. Adding plants, soft textiles (rugs, cushions), and prioritizing ambient lighting over a single fluorescent light also improves the perception of the space, especially in the evening when nostalgia can be stronger.
It can be helpful to rethink the provided layout. Many homes come with basic but bulky furniture. Moving a sofa, getting rid of a useless wardrobe, adding closed shelves to hide clutter visually lightens the room and makes it more functional. The goal is simple: coming home should mean relief, not irritation.
Anticipate these daily challenges to turn your home into a secure haven rather than a source of stress.
Tap water is not drinkable. Plan to install a filter or buy bottled water.
Power outages are frequent. Equip yourself with a headlamp, rechargeable lamps, and a reliable fan.
Mosquitoes carry diseases like malaria. Systematically check the condition of your mosquito net.
Example of Layout Priorities for a Newcomer
| Area | Emotional Goal | Concrete Action Adapted to Tanzania |
|---|---|---|
| Security | To feel protected | Choose a guarded compound, reinforce locks, install an alarm |
| Health | Reduce anxiety linked to illness | Water filter, intact mosquito net, repellent, personal pharmacy |
| Sensory Comfort | Create a soothing atmosphere | Table lamps, soft textiles, a few plants |
| Identity | Reconnect with your story | Photos, books, objects, music from home |
| Organization | Limit visual and mental chaos | Closed storage, sorting, defined desk area |
Establishing rituals in this home also helps: for example, morning coffee on the balcony listening to neighborhood sounds, a weekly “movie from home” night, a fixed-time reading moment. These routines create a sense of continuity with the old life while leaving room for the new context.
Taming the Local Culture Without Losing Yourself
Homesickness often clings when you live “on the edge” of the host country: expatriate compounds, foreign colleagues, international supermarkets, evenings only with people from the same origin. Yet research shows that integration, even partial, into the local fabric significantly reduces nostalgia and promotes well-being.
In Tanzania, this starts with greetings. Here, you don’t rush a “hello.” You take the time to ask about health, family, and work. Ignoring or rushing these exchanges can be poorly received and accentuate your status as a “detached foreigner.” Learning a few basic phrases in Kiswahili makes a big difference:
– « Habari ? » (How are you?)
– « Asante » (Thank you)
– « Karibu » (Welcome / you’re welcome)
– « Pole pole » (Slowly, take your time)
– « Shikamoo » (a very respectful greeting to an elder, with the reply « Marahaba »)
Foreign students who spend time with locals adapt much better than those who stay among compatriots, according to adjustment studies.
Understanding a few cultural codes also avoids painful misunderstandings. In Tanzania:
– The body is political: modest dress is expected, especially in rural areas or in Zanzibar, where the population is overwhelmingly Muslim. Covered shoulders and knees are the norm.
– Romantic physical contact is reserved for the private sphere. Kissing or holding each other tightly in the street still shocks in many regions.
– The left hand is considered impure: avoid using it to greet, give, receive, or eat.
– Direct refusal is rare. People prefer to divert, tell a story, dodge. A “yes” can sometimes mean “I don’t want to offend you,” not a firm commitment.
Rather than judging these codes by systematically comparing them to those of your country, it is often more calming to approach them as a field of inquiry. Seeing Tanzania as an anthropological observation laboratory – while remaining respectful – helps transform frustration into curiosity.
Advice for Travelers in Tanzania
Cuisine is another powerful antidote to homesickness. Tasting a nyama choma (grilled meat), an ugali (cornmeal porridge), mandazi (doughnuts), spiced pilau rice, or coffee produced on the slopes of Kilimanjaro, is to inscribe new pleasures in your memory. Conversely, on some days, cooking a typical dish from home, with ingredients found locally or in the rare import supermarkets, will be your best emotional lifeline.
The key is to find a balance between immersion and self-preservation: participating in a ceremony, visiting a Maasai or Chagga village, taking a small Kiswahili class or a local cooking lesson, while respecting your physical and mental limits.
Building a Network: Not Staying Alone with Your Nostalgia
Researchers studying expatriate life are categorical: the quality of the social network on-site is one of the most decisive factors for feeling at home. In Tanzania, many tools exist to avoid isolation, especially in major cities.
In Dar es Salaam, InterNations runs an active community. This platform, present in 420 cities worldwide, organizes monthly events, as well as themed outings around gastronomy, culture, or coffee. You meet expatriates from all backgrounds, but also sometimes Tanzanians who have returned from abroad. It’s a good springboard for finding friends, roommates, or sports partners.
Other associations play a key role in the economic capital: Alliance Française, sports clubs like Gymkhana, Yacht Club, choirs, amateur theater (Little Theatre, local troupes), Irish, Caledonian, British cultural societies, bridge or mah-jong circles. For a newcomer, these structures are as many entry points. They allow you to create a routine: choir rehearsal on Monday, tennis training on Wednesday, theater rehearsal on Friday, for example. This regularity structures the week and leaves less room for rumination.
The following tables give an idea of some networking options for an expatriate in Dar es Salaam.
Examples of Useful Groups and Clubs in Dar es Salaam
| Group Type | Example of Organization or Activity | Main Interest |
|---|---|---|
| Expatriate Network | InterNations, “The Tanzania (TZ) Connection” | Meetups, mutual aid, social events |
| Culture & Arts | Alliance Française, Dar es Salaam Players, Little Theatre | Language, shows, creativity |
| Sports & Outdoors | Gymkhana Sports Club, Dar es Salaam Yacht Club, Dar Hash | Physical activity, city exploration |
| Cultural Societies | Caledonian Society, Irish Society, Royal Society of St. George | Traditions, parties, community network |
| Nature & Conservation | Wildlife Conservation Society of Tanzania | Safaris, ecology, environmental engagement |
Online, forums like Expat.com, InterNations (specific sections: Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar, Arusha), Reddit, or certain Facebook expatriate communities complete this landscape. You find answers to very practical questions (housing, schools, security, procedures) as well as outing proposals, carpooling, classifieds for imported items, etc.
To better adapt and discover Tanzanian culture, it’s essential to build connections with residents. Befriending local colleagues, neighbors, or shopkeepers opens access to social events (parties, weddings), religious events, and the discovery of villages, offering an immersion far richer than that of a simple visitor.
Caution however: Tanzanians are known to be warm, but also mindful of their privacy. It takes time to move from the stage of simple politeness (“Jambo, habari?”) to deep friendship. Consistency, regular greetings, respectful curiosity, and a small base of Kiswahili often make the difference.
Staying Connected with Your Country Without Being “Glued” to It
Staying close to loved ones is crucial to cushion the shock of expatriation. But a poorly managed connection can paradoxically worsen homesickness, especially if you spend your evenings scrolling through social media where everyone seems to lead the perfect life “over there.”
To keep in touch from Tanzania, use common apps (WhatsApp, Skype, etc.) with a local SIM card (Vodacom, Airtel, Tigo), which offers good coverage in the city. In national parks, mobile connection is spotty, but lodges generally have Wi-Fi, often slow but usable for messages.
The risk, for an expatriate in the throes of homesickness, is to take refuge in incessant communication with the home country: daily calls, messages all day, social media open continuously. Yet research suggests that very frequent contacts can sometimes delay adaptation, especially if the exchanges revolve in a loop around lack, difficulties, and regrets.
To maintain the link without exhaustion, adopt a structured approach: agree on a weekly video call with parents and a long monthly exchange with a close friend. Create a family group on WhatsApp to share photos and anecdotes without pressure for an immediate response. Between communications, note anecdotes in a small journal to enrich conversations and avoid talking only about difficulties.
Some Distance Connection Formats, Adapted to Life in Tanzania
| Contact Format | Concrete Example | Psychological Advantage |
|---|---|---|
| Regular Video Call | Every Sunday morning with parents | Reassuring ritual, focused, predictable time |
| WhatsApp Group | Immediate family with photos of your Tanzanian daily life | Spontaneous sharing without feeling “monitored” |
| Shared Albums | Google Photos or iCloud, with your safaris, markets, etc. | Allows loved ones to “see” your new life |
| Mail or Package | Postcards from Zanzibar, small local souvenirs | Tangible gesture, reinforces the feeling of connection |
| Shared Projects | Reading the same book, watching the same series, long-distance | Creates a shared experience despite the distance |
For children, tangible connections are particularly important: identical books on both sides of the screen to read together on Skype, printed photos of grandparents displayed in the bedroom, souvenir albums during mutual visits.
It can be tempting to go “home” very quickly to cut the homesickness. However, some professionals advise avoiding return trips too early, at least for the first few months, as this can recreate a difficult gap upon return. A strategy is rather to plan a first real trip after a certain period of settling in, for example around a big family holiday, while also inviting loved ones to come discover your new life in Tanzania.
Managing Culture Shock and Homesickness Together
Cultural shock and homesickness are often distinguished, but in practice, the two intertwine. In Tanzania, culture shock takes on concrete forms: being called “mzungu” in the street, having to negotiate prices at markets, being confronted with very different beliefs (witchcraft, spirits, traditional healers), adapting to a marked hierarchy at work, where decisions come from the top and you don’t easily contradict a superior.
Specialists describe several successive phases: a honeymoon phase (fascination), followed by a frustration phase (irritation and homesickness), then adjustment and acceptance phases.
Several avenues from research can help you navigate these stages:
To better navigate an expatriation, it is crucial to work on your expectations beforehand, notably by taking a realistic training on potential difficulties. Then, you must know how to name and accept the negative emotions typical of culture shock, like confusion or irritation, without judging yourself. Adopting a dual perspective is also beneficial: alternating between mourning what was left behind and actively exploring the new environment. Finally, setting and regularly accomplishing concrete micro-goals (using local transportation, learning language words, participating in an activity) reinforces the sense of competence and gradually lessens homesickness.
Finding Anchorage Through Activities and Places
Filling your days with purely professional tasks is not enough to create a sense of belonging. What soothes is also weaving pleasant memories in the new country. And Tanzania is full of opportunities to do so.
The country offers a great diversity of outdoor activities, from hikes on Kilimanjaro or Mount Meru to walks in national parks (Serengeti, Tarangire, etc.) and the beaches of Zanzibar. Even if you’re not athletic, simple moments like a neighborhood stroll or a coffee on a terrace in Arusha can become beneficial rituals.
Local cultural events – arts festivals, sports competitions like the Kiliman adventure challenge, festivals in Bagamoyo or Zanzibar – are as many opportunities to feel the country vibrate. You discover Sukuma dances, Chagga songs, craft markets, taarab or bongo flava concerts. Attending these events, even as a simple spectator, allows you to no longer be just the “foreigner in transit,” but a person who participates in collective life.
Frequenting certain places regularly, like a library, a familiar café, or a market, allows you to weave micro-social interactions. These simple rituals, like exchanging greetings or anecdotes with a vendor or artisan, help combat the feeling of invisibility in an urban environment.
Taking Care of Your Physical Health to Protect Your Morale
Homesickness doesn’t just play out in the head. Studies on people experiencing nostalgia show a strong somatic dimension: sleep disorders, appetite changes, fatigue, diffuse pains, headaches, digestive troubles. In Tanzania, these symptoms can be reinforced by the tropical climate, infectious diseases, and public health systems less effective than in many Western countries.
Before departure, see a doctor for vaccines (hepatitis, typhoid, yellow fever, rabies) and an appropriate antimalarial treatment. On-site, use mosquito nets, repellent, and possibly spraying your home, especially during the risk season. To avoid intestinal infections, consume only filtered, boiled, or bottled water.
For serious problems, the best facilities are in the major cities, with sometimes medical evacuations to Nairobi or Johannesburg for severe cases. Hence the importance, for your peace of mind, of subscribing to private health insurance covering evacuation in case of emergency.
Regular practice of physical activity, like walking, swimming, yoga, club sports, or jogging, acts as a natural antidepressant. It helps regulate stress, improve sleep quality, and better tolerate daily frustrations.
Finally, diet plays a role. Tanzanian food is often simple but nourishing: rice, vegetables, beans, grilled meat, fish, abundant fruit (mangoes, pineapples, bananas, avocados). By combining local cuisine and some products from home, you can stabilize your energy and avoid the glycemic rollercoasters that exacerbate irritability.
Relying on Available Psychological Resources
In a country where mental health remains largely stigmatized and under-resourced – about 0.04 psychiatrists per 100,000 inhabitants, very few psychologists, and a minimal national budget dedicated to psychiatry – expatriates face a dual challenge: respecting the local context while ensuring appropriate support.
In Tanzania, several organizations work to develop mental health services and can constitute useful starting points:
Presentation of the main structures working for mental health in Tanzania, from awareness-raising to digital support.
Conducts awareness-raising and psychoeducation actions, and offers a self-help tool (“Programu Tuliza”) to manage stress, anxiety, and depression.
Based in Dar es Salaam, this organization is oriented towards rehabilitation, stigma reduction, family support, and training.
The first e-mental health structure in the country, combining a mobile application and human support.
Professional association that federates the country’s psychologists.
In parallel, there is a growing network of private practitioners, sometimes specialized in supporting expatriates, in person or online, in Dar es Salaam, Arusha, or Zanzibar. International platforms like TherapyRoute, Expat Couch, or services like CTS Counseling list this type of professional.
Studies show that, although homesickness is not a mental illness in itself, it can, if it persists and intensifies, transform into depression, anxiety disorders, or adjustment disorders. Warning signs should prompt you to consult:
A combination of profound sadness, generalized anxiety, suicidal thoughts, and persistent difficulties functioning in daily or professional life can indicate a state of psychological suffering requiring urgent care.
For crisis situations, numbers exist in Tanzania (police, ambulances, helplines for domestic violence, foundations for child protection, family support associations). They are primarily aimed at locals, but can also be useful for expatriates in immediate danger.
It is important to remember that in Tanzania, suicide attempt remains criminalized, which influences social and institutional reactions to distress. For an expatriate, it may therefore be more prudent to turn to international structures, private services, or teleconsultation platforms based abroad, especially to address very sensitive topics.
Finding Your Own Way to Be “From Here and From There”
Living in Tanzania is often about accepting to feel “between two worlds”: the one you come from, with its language, norms, humor; and the one where you now live, with its contradictions, its warmth (literally and figuratively), its slowness, its surprises. Homesickness comes precisely from this tension between attachment to the old and the necessity to invest in the new.
Research on expatriates and “third culture kids” (children who grow up in a culture different from their parents’) shows that this pull can become a richness, provided it is not locked into nostalgia. You can learn to say: “Part of me always belongs to my home country, another part is being built here.” The goal is not to replace one with the other, but to broaden your identity.
Concretely, this can involve:
– A calendar that mixes local holidays (for example Tanzanian Unification Day, major religious holidays) and holidays from home, celebrated in a small gathering at home.
– A library where Tanzanian authors and writers from home coexist.
– A playlist that alternates bongo flava, Swahili gospel, traditional music, and artists from your adolescence.
– Friendships including compatriots, Tanzanians, and other foreigners alike.
Studies show that regularly noting things you are grateful for, even small details like a sunset, a shared laugh, or a personal progress, helps gently shift the mind from a sense of lack to appreciation. Keeping a small notebook, written each evening by the light of a bedside lamp, is a simple but powerful tool to cultivate this habit.
Finally, it is useful to remember that adaptation takes time. Many expatriates attest that it is only after several months – sometimes a year or two – that nostalgia becomes gentler, less overwhelming. Allowing yourself this time without judgment, accepting the emotional waves as part of the journey, asking for help if they become too high, is perhaps the most precious advice for managing homesickness in Tanzania.
This country, with its contrasts and challenges, its crowded buses at dawn and its black nights punctuated by crickets, can become one of your homes. Not by erasing the one you left, but by making room for it beside you, patiently, day after day.
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Cyril Jarnias is an independent expert in international wealth management with over 20 years of experience. As an expatriate himself, he is dedicated to helping individuals and business leaders build, protect, and pass on their wealth with complete peace of mind.
On his website, cyriljarnias.com, he shares his expertise on international real estate, offshore company formation, and expatriation.
Thanks to his expertise, he offers sound advice to optimize his clients' wealth management. Cyril Jarnias is also recognized for his appearances in many prestigious media outlets such as BFM Business, les Français de l’étranger, Le Figaro, Les Echos, and Mieux vivre votre argent, where he shares his knowledge and know-how in wealth management.
