CHOTTARA’S TANZANIA PHOTOJOURNAL
Chottara takes us through his photo journal from his most recent trip back to his home country, The Republic Of Tanzania
Dar es Salaam (Abode of Peace)
Self taught Tanzanian craftsmen showing off his most expensive product outside the local fish market. It took him two and a half weeks to handmake this ship using recycled materials
Carrom is a tabletop game of Indian origin in which players flick discs, attempting to knock them to the corners of the board. Despite originating in India, Carrom is the most popular game in the Hijaz and Arabian gulf. It was brought down to the swahili coastline by the Sultan of Oman during their colonial rule of Zanzibar. In the 19th century Sultan Seyyid Said loved Stonetown so much that he made it the capital of the Oman empire.
A local fisherman getting a razor trim after a long day out battling the indian ocean
'Kibanda Umiza' which translates to 'The cabin of pain' is a term used to describe these public spaces where locals go to watch football games
Gengeni (Market)
The Asian film industry is by far the biggest unofficial film industry in the country. The streets are plagued with Pirated copies of Bollywood films, Malaysian, South Korean etc. There are also many bootleg copies of Hollywood films but since they are sold at a higher price, the general public end up consuming less of it.
Tourism is Tanzania's biggest industry. This has had a direct influence on local artistry as a lot of extremely talented local artists create with the hopes of selling their works of art to tourists. There are many markets similar to this one around the country, where you will find beautiful and vibrant pieces of art that embraces Tanzanian culture. Although, as a Tanzanian who has been to many of these markets it’s easy to feel like most of what you see isn't meant for you... ironically.
Just another day for a local fisherman in Mikocheni, Dar es Salaam
Called Sabithatsu to pimp out the ride.
Local Fishermen, Mikocheni, Dar es Salaam
Nungwi beach, Zanzibar
Stonetown is home to the Forodhani divers. Over the past decade, there has been a growing culture of young divers whom you'll find along the coast from 4 pm to sunset. There is a spot right next to Cape Town Fish Market restaurant in Forodhani, where you will find a large group of divers who have grown into content creators, taking their diving culture to the world. @yessjamal is one of the first divers who started posting content of their culture online. He has grown to have 1 million subscribers on YouTube and 2.4 million TikTok followers. His content has been reshared by Madonna, Will Smith, P Diddy, to name a few. He dove with Lupita Nyong'o and had the president come down to meet him
I've firsthand seen the issues of overfishing and pollution on the coast of Dar es Salaam. My family has a beach house there, which I grew up in. I had a daily routine of playing football with my cousin and then cooling down afterward by taking a swim in the ocean. When I was 7 to 12 years old, the beach was crystal clear and had a thriving ecosystem. I grew up seeing a wide range of different species of fish, seahorses, and even dolphins on occasions. By the time I was 15, I had stopped swimming on our beach completely. The reasons as to why can be seen in the photo.
There's a regulation in Tanzania that restricts fishermen from using nets that are under 5 inches in mesh size. It's a regulation that is greatly ignored by locals who use anything they can get their hands on, take the mosquito net used, for example. These nets end up catching everything. I can't blame the fishermen, as they're doing what they can to feed their families.
Unwanted fish isn't the only thing the fishermen end up scooping out with their nets. Plastic bottles and plastic bags are also a common catch on this shoreline. There are multiple canals that go through the city and meet the ocean along our beach. All the litter that gets thrown into those canals ends up in the ocean. As a result, I witnessed the water turn from crystal blue into a murky brown