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Where on earth is Pangani?
Pangani is a beautiful village located on the North Coast of Tanzania, very close to the exotic island of Zanzibar.  The village is bordered on the East by the Indian Ocean and on the South by the Pangani River.  Pangani itself is a laid-back and friendly place with a mixture of cultures that gives visitors a unique view of Tanzanian life.  It also has historical significance as a centre for the slave trade centuries ago.  Some buildings, including a slave prison and depot, still remain.  It is a very interesting area culturally as well, with an Arabic influence that you do not find inland. Visitors are warmly welcomed in Pangani and you will quickly feel like part of the local family.  Karibuni sana! “You are warmly welcomed!”

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The Pangani District is bounded by the Bagamoyo district in the south and the Tanga district lies in the coastal zone with the Indian Ocean to the east. Outside the coast lies the islands Pemba and Zanzibar. Pangani is not far from the Usambara Mountains, west of Tanga, which makes the terrain mixed and provides the land with rivals. The biggest river, pangani River, comes all the way from Kilimanjaro down to the coast. The town of Pangani was established around the place where the river meets the sea. South of the district lies the Sadani Game Reserve, which is the only national park where the animals can go all the way to coast of the Indian Ocean. Coral reeves stretch all along the coast of Tanzania.
Climate

The area is very fertile and the air is moist. Farming and plantations are therefore the main occupation in the area. Since the town lies in the tropical zone, not far from the equator and on the coast, the temperatures do not differ very much during the day and the year. In the summer, February to March, the temperature comes to 35 degrees Celsius in the shade and in the winter it is only some 5 degrees lower. The temperature never goes below 15 degrees at night any time during the year. The seasons of the year are set by the rainy seasons, the main one in March-April, “Masika”, and one in October-December, “Vuli”. Small amounts of rain usually come in July. The vegetation depends on these rains. Some years it rains less and makes the outcome worse for the plantations and the crops. Heavy rain can be a problem when villages and plantations get flooded, but in the long run more rain results in better crops.

Due to its geographically good location at the delta of Pangani River, human settlements developed quite early. It is supposed that the Pangani trade was formed by independent fishing villages about one thousand years before Chris. Its importance started to increase when the demand for ivory and tortoise shells was both from Asian and European travelers. The monsoon winds provided the means for traveling between Persia to the East African Coast. The journey was made in the typical Arab Dhows still seen on the coast today. The river was used as an important line of communication with the interior where the ivory could be found. The first immigrants to the African coast were Hindus followed by Arabs. While the business of Hindus was mainly commercial, the Arab’s objectives were political as well. In the fourth century before Christ the Greeks appeared in the history of Pangani was given the name Rhapta. Stone artifacts show the first settlements of Pangani. In the following c3enturies there were several outside influences line the Roman Empire, the Abyssinians, Bantus, the Wade-bule, from the western coast of India and further the Islamic religion. At about 975 AD Hassan bin Ali landed on the coast and from this moment Arab influences slowly reverted and the commercial and the political force become Persian.

Slave Trade

The Arabs continued with their trade in ivory and slaves. In the 13th and 14th century Pangani was a very important harbour and an upcountry caravan route to Usambara, Kilimanjaro and Kenya. Like other coastal towns, i.e. Bagamoyo, it suffered the brutality of the slave trade era. By 1840, when the sultan of Oman shifted his rule to Zanzibar and started clove plantations, slave trade was an important source of man power and income for many Arabs. In Pangani slaves were forced to build Arab houses, farms and perform all other hard labour. The stronger and healthier slaves were sold to Zanzibar and else where abroad.

Early Explorers
Between 1500 and 1700 the Portuguese controlled the East African Coast. They used the East African Coast on their way to India. The Portuguese were interested in trading, particularly in the gold from the interior, and they started spreading Christianity. They introduced new crops like pineapples, cassava and the addition of certain words to the Swahili language. The Portuguese did not leave many landmarks in Pangani as natives did not adopt their manners. Towards the end of 1600 the Oman Arabs were invited by Arabs of East Africa to help overthrow the Portuguese. In 1840 Seyyid Said made Zanzibar his capital, establishing Pangani as one link in his chain of trading centres intending to link Zanzibar with the Great Lakes. At that time Pangani was on of the most important centres on the coast of Tanganyika.

Late History until Now
After the Berlin Conference in 1884, East Africa was divided and given to Britain and Germany with a coastal strip of 16km belonging to the Sultan of Zanzibar and Pemba Islands. The conference was organized by the German Prime Minister Bismarck, involving seven European nations. In 1890 Tanganyika became a German colony until 1918. the Germans introduced some commercial crops like rice, cotton, coffee, coconuts and the first seedlings of sisal were grown by Dr. Richard Hindroph in 1892. in 1888 a rebellion was attempted to overthrow the German rule. Its leader Abbushir bin Salim was captured and hanged by the German administrator with the assistance of Sudanese and Zulu troops. After the First World War the British took over the mandate of Tanganyika and fixed the Insignia of King George 5th , shown in a stone mound pilar at the Ferry monuments in Pangani. This replaced the German Insignia of the Kaiser. The mandate of the British Empire ceased on December 9th 1961 when Tanganyika obtained Independence and the name was changed to Tanzania.

Location of the Town

The whole Pangani bay has been a delta for the Pangani River. The river got new shapes during the rainy seasons and the only safe places to build a city was on either the south side or the north side of the delta. Once small town was built at Mhuembo on the north side and later people settled down and built the village Bweni on the south side. For some reasons the town at Muhembo was abandoned in the 16th century. The new was built closer to the river. The town often got flooded and in the late 18th century most of the town was destroyed. Then a rich Arab built his residence at a nearby location and that was the start of the town Pangani we meet today. He also built an embankment and ditches along the river to prevent town from the flood. Today the town includes both Pangani and Bweni.

The name Pangani

We do not know when this town got the name Pangani and the people have different theories: the English of the Ascension writes in his long from 1608 that the sheep took in water near Pemba. He mentions some trouble with small boats (Mtepe) from which the Greeks invented the name for Rhapta (ploiaria rhapta), but he calls them Pangaias. By then the city of Rhapta had been lost under see or river and instead he explored a new city that had sprung up in its place.

Was it new name Pangani because boat pagaia was made there and was the original name Pangaiani. Another theory is that the Shell-fish, Pangani can be found all down the coast a more important source of income and that also become the name of the new town. The town was built mainly by Arab traders and the biggest business was a stolen or bought from native chief s all over the country. Many of them were taken to Pangani and then further to Zanzibar and Arab countries. In Pangani they were selected by trade arranged in groups. Panga is the Swahili word for arrange and that is probably the most plausible explanation for the name of the town today.

The myth of the woman & her female slave
Once a year there was a celebration in town. It was a feast all day and all night and during the celebration it was forbidden to go in the ocean. Once the woman wanted to wish herself and went to the sea together with her female slave. Her hair, but God saw athem and punished them by turning them into stone. Outside Pangani you can still see the woman and her slave standing in the water as a rock.

Lime stone cave systems with tunnels that stretch hundreds of things to do like diving, snorkeling on the marine reserve of Maziwe Islandand you will see Coralin the Maziwe Island. Dhow boat strip up to Pangani River, local fishing. Traditional Dhow building. Day excursions to Zanzibar Futures White sand beaches, forested areas, coconut plantations, Panagani river system, and mangroves. Marine life, black and white colobus monkeys, crocodile, hippo, water birds.

Saadani National Park Itinerary (Beach to Bush and River  meet in a confusion of nature). Newest Saadan National Park is allocated 83 kms South of Pangani.The word Saadan is created from mispronunciation of two Swahili words "saa" and "ndani" meaning "watch" and "inside". Those two words were frequently spoken by one rich Asian Businessman who once lived in Saadan Village during Arabic influence in the East Africa Coast. The Businessman used these words to instruct his customers who were curiously and stubborn asking to be told time from a different device (wall clock) to get into the house to find time on their own.

This seemed like new technology to the people in the village in telling time unlike to their original African one they were used to. Laterthis man's  home  shop was nicknamed Saa ndani, mispronounced Saadani, thus leading to the name Village.

What else is there to do around Pangani and in Tanzania?

Zanzibar Travel Videos - Tripfilms

Zanzibar. Pangani is one of the best places from which to catch a boat to the exotic spice island of Zanzibar or the neighbouring island of Pemba, a diver’s paradise.  Or you can fly from the nearby town of Tanga for a very good price.

Saadani National Park.  This is one of the country’s newest National Parks and is East Africa’s largest coastal National Park.  It has a wide range of animals, birds and plants and is quite accessible from Pangani. Safaris can be arranged through Volunteer Pangani.

Amani Natural Reserve. Situated in the picturesque Usambara Mountains, Amani Natural Reserve has a huge number of birds and some great hiking trails.

Pangani itself has interesting historical sights, some great beaches, awesome snorkeling.