The Tanzanite Experience
The Tanzanite Experience in Arusha offers interactive tours showcasing the history, mining, and crafting of tanzanite gemstones, with opportunities to purchase certified stones.
Planning your visit
Tanzanite is found in one place on earth: a strip of hills a few kilometres wide at Merelani, near Kilimanjaro. It was identified in 1967, named by Tiffany & Co., and geologists estimate the deposit will be exhausted within decades — which is the basis of the whole trade.
The Tanzanite Experience in Arusha covers the discovery, the geology that produced a stone found nowhere else, the mining conditions, and the grading system by which colour and saturation determine value. Rough stones are shown alongside cut ones, and the pleochroism — the way the stone shows blue, violet and burgundy from different angles — is demonstrated.
Certification matters here more than most places, given the volume of synthetic and treated material sold to visitors, and the centre issues certificates for what it sells.
Arusha is the base for northern safaris. Allow an hour. Bookable options combine it with the Maasai market. Current availability is listed below.
Before you book
Where is The Tanzanite Experience?
The Tanzanite Experience is in Arusha, Tanzania.
How long should I allow for The Tanzanite Experience?
Allow an hour. That is the time the collection itself takes at an unhurried pace, before any queue.
Do I need to book The Tanzanite Experience in advance?
Tickets can be bought on the door at quiet times, but booking ahead fixes the date and avoids the queue at busy ones. Live availability is shown on this page.
