A neighbourhood, not a sight
Oyster Bay appears on itineraries and hotel listings for Dar es Salaam as though it were somewhere you go. It is not. Oysterbay is one of five sub-wards of Msasani Ward in Kinondoni Municipal Council — the others being Masaki, Bonde la Mpunga, Makangira and Mikoroshoni — and it is a residential and diplomatic district on the Msasani peninsula, north-east of the old centre.
Knowing that saves a wasted half-day. There is no Oyster Bay site, no entrance and nothing to look at that is not a street of houses, embassies, offices and hotels. When an itinerary says Oyster Bay, it almost always means one of three things: the address of the hotel you are staying in, the public shoreline at Coco Beach, or the general area where the boats to the island reserves leave from.
What is actually in it
- Coco Beach, the city’s public shore, which runs along the peninsula’s ocean side and is the only genuinely visitable thing in the district. It is a social beach rather than a swimming beach, busiest at weekends and in the late afternoon.
- Boat departures for the island marine reserves offshore. The reserves’ general management plan names the Msasani Slipway as the operator of regular boat shuttles to Bongoyo, and the hotels on the northern beaches as the route to Mbudya. See sandbank and island hopping and snorkelling.
- Restaurants and hotels, which is genuinely what the district is known for locally and which is not something this site ranks or recommends.
The history in the name
The ward around it has a documented past that is more interesting than the district itself. Kinondoni Municipal Council’s own record says Msasani Ward was formerly called Mikoroshoni, from the cashew trees that grew there, and gives two competing accounts of where the name Msasani came from: one tracing it to a man named Mussa Hassan, whose name early Makonde residents rendered differently until it settled as Msasani, and one tracing it simply to the msasa trees that grew in the area. The council does not choose between them, and neither does this page. Julius Nyerere lived in Msasani and his family remains there.
Common questions
Is Oyster Bay worth visiting?
Not as a destination. It is a place you stay, eat or leave from. The shoreline at Coco Beach is the part with anything to see.
Is it the same as Masaki?
No, but they adjoin. Both are sub-wards of Msasani Ward and the names are used loosely in conversation and in hotel marketing.
Why does it appear on so many itineraries?
Because a great deal of visitor accommodation in the city is there, and because the name is pleasant. Neither is a reason to allocate time to it.