Homes in Tanzania

HOMES  IN  TANZANIA

     As in most countries, there are many types of houses in Tanzania.  In the towns there are well built relatively modern structures, and similar impressive buildings could be found in Zanzibar in the mid-1800s.  After all, Dr. Livingstone visited the following building, still standing tall and strong today:

                   Detail of front of building:

This "Livingstone House"

in Zanzibar, has the

 "Dr. Livingstone's Exhibition Room"

containing pictures

 and framed documents.

In the cities, the houses are constructed of cement and plaster.      Here is a typical street in Zanzibar, narrow with buildings painted white. However, as soon as the traveller leaves the city, there are three types of houses built out in the countryside.  I was most interested in these, as Dr. Dillon would have seen similar sights as he, too, journeyed through the landscape in 1872-3.

Cement block houses under construction

close to "rocks" which might provide safety in an emergency.

These cement block houses have metal roofs, so are likely housing families.

Most common were houses built of red, baked blocks

with straw roofs:

The roof of this house is of baked tiles,

and notice the shed beside it,

where the walls are made of straw.

And how are the red blocks baked?

Here is a kiln, and a brick-making area:

Behind each stack of bricks is an opening into the kiln, or "oven."  Into these openings the wood is loaded and then each stack is replaced, resealing each opening.

Inside are placed piles of red soil mixed with water and shaped into "bricks."

The oven is left to cook for several days, with the bricks drying hard inside, in the heat.

Another kiln at the left at back

Stacks of baked bricks

And then there was the third type of housing  - the wattle and stick framed house:

  

This was a very fine example!  

Many were not as well constructed!

These houses usually had a shed beside the main house, where animals spent the night.

If they built an "outhouse" (so-called in Canada) or a"long drop" (so-called in New Zealand), it was constructed away from the main building:

We passed a Masai Compound, surrounded by stacked branches, sealed to form a prickly, impenetrable circle at night: to keep out wild animals and to keep in domesticated ones.

And inside the Masai Compound,

small, windowless family units:

And trinkets for sale to the likes of us!

Sometimes we saw a mixture of dwellings, housing extended family

 This mother and her child were standing in front of their home, showing the two types of house construction behind.

We were always very careful to show respect for people's privacy, and we took photos only if it was acceptable to those in front of the cameras.

Children never seemed concerned or shy, as can be seen in the two final pictures, which show them playing with home-made toys.

Thank you for reading along!

Next time:  Honey-gathering in Africa.