Datooga Tribe

Life Carried Through Generations

Encountering the Datooga is a meeting with continuity. Their lives unfold through cattle, land and family, guided by customs that have travelled intact through generations. Movement feels deliberate, grounded in rhythms shaped by season and soil.

Daily life takes place in open landscapes where presence matters more than pace. Children observe, elders guide, and knowledge circulates through gesture, repetition and shared time. Everything feels purposeful, held together by community and tradition.

The Datooga way of life leaves a quiet impression. Rooted, resilient and deeply connected to the land that sustains it.

Baraa School

A Place Shaped by Learning

Set within the everyday rhythm of Arusha, Baraa School moves with purpose and care. Classrooms fill with focus and laughter, guided by the energy of children whose curiosity unfolds naturally throughout the day. Learning here grows through structure and attention. Teachers lead with patience, routines offer stability, and progress is built step by step through shared effort. Books, voices and gestures come together to form a steady foundation.

Baraa School reflects the strength of community and commitment. A place where education creates confidence, and confidence opens new paths forward.

baraaschool.org

Machare Coffee Lodge

From Soil to Cup

At Machare Coffee Lodge, life unfolds among coffee trees on the fertile slopes of Kilimanjaro. Mornings begin with mist lifting slowly from the estate, carrying the scent of blossoms and freshly roasted beans. Cottages sit within the plantation, offering views over cultivated hills and distant peaks. Guests are invited into the rhythm of the farm, tracing coffee’s journey from soil to cup through hands, time and care.

Machare offers a sense of calm rooted in cultivation, flavour and place.

macharecoffee.com

A Taste of Tanzania

Untold Publishing

What’s in a taste? A taste can be exquisite, unexpected, mixed, spiced, simple, honest, dark, light, complex, raw, ... Depending on a subtle interaction of touch, sight, smell and the experience of the known and unknown in your life. Putting a taste into words is difficult.

Capturing it on camera even more so... Yet, this book is the result of a bold project aimed at giving people a taste of one country in particular: Tanzania. A 355 page coffee table book full of stunning photographs, compelling stories and delicious recipes. A catalogue of my wanderings through this magnificent country together with my best friend and chef, Axel Janssens. And the result of our relentless search for beauty, meaning and adventure. A quest that has never ended to this day. 

www.atasteoftanzania.com

Siringit Migration Camp

Living With the Great Movement

Migration Camp follows the ancient pulse of the Serengeti. Positioned along the path of the Great Migration, it places guests at the heart of one of nature’s most powerful cycles. Tents rise where wildebeest and zebra pass, guided by season, instinct and time. Mornings open onto endless grasslands washed in soft light. Days unfold through game drives that track movement rather than schedule. Meals are shared beneath open skies, surrounded by the quiet tension of anticipation.

This is safari shaped by motion, patience and proximity to the wild.

https://www.siringit.co.tz/collection/siringit-migration-camp/

Nale Moru

Safaris That Become Stories

To travel with Nale Moru is to enter Africa with attention and intent. Each journey unfolds at a pace dictated by landscape, light and life itself. From the open plains of the Serengeti to forested highlands and remote valleys, every route is shaped by deep knowledge of place and a profound respect for its rhythms.

Details linger long after the journey ends. A lioness crossing the road at dawn. A guide who reads the land as fluently as a book. The stillness of evening settling over camp while the horizon glows its final colours.

Nale Moru crafts safaris that stay with you, because they are grounded in story, presence and connection.

Feel the glow

Kimemo Coffee Farm

A short drive away from Arusha in Tanzania lies a coffee farm renowned for its unique brand of deep, rich and delicious washed Arabica. Run by the Bannister family, the Kimemo Coffee Farm is built upon a beautiful philosophy of love and care. For their product, for the earth that produces it and the people who cultivate it. And I am truly convinced that is what makes every sip an experience in itself.

Tender hearts

Maasai Tribe

To feel part of the Maasai way of life, albeit very briefly, was an extremely moving experience for me. Their complete respect for all living things is nothing short of inspirational. They invited me to witness the ritual slaughter of a goat. And while there is nothing joyous about watching an animal being killed, the respectful and humble way in which the Maasai do it has a poetry to it, gently stroking and kindly whispering to it as it passes from this life into the next.

The Flying Chef

Axel Janssens

Meeting Chef Axel Janssens was a coincidence. Our friendship wasn’t. We are both attracted by the unknown, and triggered by a common sense of exploration. He would soon become my partner in crime, my fellow adventurer, my guide, and eventually my best friend. Axel is a Belgian chef who landed in Tanzania around 2005 when he joined his cousin Dirk, who was running Onsea House in Arusha.

Axel’s culinary talent transformed this small family guesthouse into a local hotspot and ultimately, a luxury resort. And so Axel’s gastronomic name and fame was made and he soon became one of the most sought-after chefs in Tanzania, flying around the country and even to neighbouring Kenya, bringing his enchanting cuisine to the most exotic locations and earning himself the nickname, “The Flying Chef”. Axel’s enthusiasm for Tanzania was contagious, and the passion we came to share for this ruggedly beautiful place eventually inspired the book we created together: “A Taste of Tanzania”.

Back to the roots

Hadzabe Tribe

The Hadzabe are a small tribe in the south of Tanzania and some of the last remaining hunter-gatherers in the world. The life they lead has been passed on through generations, based on a deep respect for nature. Adapting to the ebb and flow of the seasons, the Hadzabe rely on multiple survival techniques developed over millenia. Hadzabe women typically gather in groups, often accompanied by a male, and forage for fruits (essentially from the baobabs), berries, tubers (thick potato-like roots) and honey.

Pure magic

The Swedish Chef

I used to know only one Swedish chef. Now I know two of them. Meet Jussi Husa, a Swedish-born executive røck ‘n røll chef. Jussi is a force of nature, a charismatic whirlwind who has been cooking for almost 40 years. His personality and endless passion for food were a lust for the eye and a true inspiration. And this still young-at-heart veteran’s dishes left me flabbergasted. Which almost sounds Swedish.

The sorcerer’s apprentice

Jobportunity

What a fiery character and passionate soul is Chef Baracca! The young man whose passion for cooking is perhaps unmatched anywhere. And while his kitchen at Onsea House may be a far cry from the streets of Arusha where he grew up, it is no less authentic. He passed up what would undoubtedly have been a successful international career in favour of staying and joining his long-time teacher, mentor and friend, Axel.

Just one of many success stories to come out of the non-profit initiative, Jobportunity with whom Axel has devoted much of his life and virtually all of his culinary wizardry to helping underprivileged kids. A heart-warming story to challenge the soul-warming food this dynamic duo dish up every night.

A rush of blood to the heart

Arusha Central Market (Tanzania)

Stepping out into Arusha’s Central Market for the first time, witnessing the beaming smiles and charming, radiant faces of the locals, the explosion of exotic fragrances, the whirlwind of sounds and the maelstrom of activity… Through that labyrinth of colour and life it was hard to know which way to go, let along which way to look and/or point my lens. I will never forget this veritable feast for the senses!

Posh Spice

Vanilla

Sure, I had used pepper, vanilla and other spices before landing on Zanzibar. But it was only by witnessing their cultivation first hand that I could fully appreciate what a labour of love they are. The arduous process of cultivating vanilla, the queen of spices, touched me the most, given the royal treatment and even pollinated by hand with true patience and precision. Talk about posh spice!

Small is beautiful

1001 Organic

1001 Organic is a social enterprise dedicated to sustainable cultivation of the preservation of traditional varieties of premium organic spices. By reviving more natural, small-scale production techniques, they not only produce a superior product but ensure the long-term sustainability of the industry to which they have devoted their lives. And you can taste the difference – and experience the unique story behind every one – at Tanzania’s very first concept store, the 1001 Organic Spicery in Stonetown. 

https://1001organic.com/

Fiery Passion

Mgeni Mzima

Meet Mgeni Mzima. Passionate about cooking from a young age, his determination to become a chef led to various stints in some of the world’s most esteemed kitchens. But it is back home as Tulia Zanzibar’s executive chef that he feels most at home.

You can taste it in the more than 400 fragrant flowers and plants he grows in his garden. And you can taste it in his exquisite dishes, like this vegan ceviche with passionfruit dressing that was almost too pretty to eat. Almost. 

Happy Sailing

Safari Blue

Safari Blue in the Zanzibari town of Fumba organises sea excursions on traditional dhows made according to traditional methods but equipped with modern navigation instruments. What an enthralling day it was out on the water: a relaxed cruise, some snorkeling for good measure and, of course, a sumptuous lunch on our very own private island.

Safari Blue dedicate themselves to honouring the local traditions, protecting the environment and caring for the people of Zanzibar, starting with their own staff and crew. Many of whom have been with the company since it began in 1996.