Swahili Time. It’s not a gentle way of saying that Tanzanians are known for being a little less… ermm… punctual than perhaps Northern Europeans may be used to.

It’s an actual real thing. You see, Swahili speakers count time differently than most people. In Swahili Time, 1 o’clock in the morning is the first hour after sunrise (what everyone else calls 7:00 a.m.), and 1 o’clock at night is the first hour after sunset (what the rest of the world calls 7:00 p.m.).

Why? Because most Swahili speakers live close to the equator, and on the equator the sun rises and sets at the same time every day of the year. Unlike countries far from the equator, where sunrise in June might occur at 4:30 a.m and sunrise in December might be at 8:30 a.m., the sunrise in the Swahili speaking world is so consistent that you can set your watch by it… so people do.

So, when it’s 11 o’clock, here, people say it’s 5.

This makes things pretty interesting. As described in Townie Tuesday’s blog, a normal exchange between a Swahili speaker and a not very good Swahili speaker could take a very very long time…

Luckily, the good folks over at the Kamusi Project have created the first ever Swahili clock, to avoid confusion when it comes to figuring out the time here. We like them, and what they do, so if you have a bit of spare money, support them by buying one of their Swahili clocks.

And obviously, come to Tanzania and experience this fascinating place for yourself. Stay with us at the Med, and let us tell you what we know about Tanzania. Quite a lot, actually…