Arusha

Fig tree in Arusha National Part, Tanzania. Two olive trees, one either side of the path, have been enveloped by a ‘strangler’ fig (genus ficus), in a symbiotic relationship that will eventually kill the host trees.

Town and capital of the province of the same name in northeast Tanzania, lying at the foot of Mount Meru; population (2002) 270,500. Surrounded by coffee, maize and wheat estates, crops also include pyrethrum and sisal. It is a commercial centre and has light industries, including food processing, plastics, radios, and meerschaum pipes. The town, which is linked by rail to the ports of Tanga in Tanzania, and Mombasa in Kenya, has considerable trade from tourists, mainly because it is the main safari base for the conservation park areas in the north of the country, and because of its proximity to the Olduvai Gorge.

Arusha was established as a German administrative post, and it grew slowly under the British. It is the home of the Tropical Pesticides Research Institute, founded in 1962.