Msasani is an administrative ward in the Kinondoni

Kinondoni

Kinondoni District is the northernmost of three districts in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, the others being Temeke and Ilala . To the east is the Indian Ocean, to the north and west the Pwani Region of Tanzania. The 2002 Tanzanian National Census showed that the population of Kinondoni was 1,083,913...

 district of the Dar es Salaam Region

Dar es Salaam Region

Dar es Salaam Region is one of Tanzania's 26 administrative regions. The regional capital is the city of Dar es Salaam. Dar es Salaam is the wealthiest region in Tanzania. It is also the most densely populated region with 1,786 people per square mile. The region of Dar es Salaam has the population...

 of Tanzania

Tanzania

The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...

. According to the 2002 census, the ward has a total population of 43,457.

The ward is geographically a peninsula

Peninsula

A peninsula is a piece of land that is bordered by water on three sides but connected to mainland. In many Germanic and Celtic languages and also in Baltic, Slavic and Hungarian, peninsulas are called "half-islands"....

; both the ward and the peninsula are named after the Msasani village, which used to be the only settlement in the area. The intense urbanization of the area in recent times, it is still essentially a Swahili

Swahili people

The Swahili people are a Bantu ethnic group and culture found in East Africa, mainly in the coastal regions and the islands of Kenya, Tanzania and north Mozambique. According to JoshuaProject, the Swahili number in at around 1,328,000. The name Swahili is derived from the Arabic word Sawahil,...

 fishermen

Fisherman

A fisherman or fisher is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishermen and fish farmers. The term can also be applied to recreational fishermen and may be used to describe both men...

 village.

Msasani is one of the wealthiest areas in the Dar es Salaam Region. It has shops, restaurants, beauty saloons, pubs and other entertainment activities, as well as a large bazaar

Bazaar

A bazaar , Cypriot Greek: pantopoula) is a permanent merchandising area, marketplace, or street of shops where goods and services are exchanged or sold. The term is sometimes also used to refer to the "network of merchants, bankers and craftsmen" who work that area...

 selling local crafts. It is also a luxury residential area, with several large villas owned by members of the Tanzanian political and economical elite. Most of these structures were built in an era of building liberalization initiated by Tanzanian President Ali Hassan Mwinyi

Ali Hassan Mwinyi

Ali Hassan Mwinyi is a Tanzanian politician. He was the second President of the United Republic of Tanzania from 1985 to 1995. Previous posts include Interior Minister and Vice President...

.

Public transportation in the area is mainly provided by daladalas, their main station in Msasani being at the Sea Cliff Hotel. From Msasani, motored dhow

Dhow

Dhow is the generic name of a number of traditional sailing vessels with one or more masts with lateen sails used in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean region. Some historians believe the dhow was invented by Arabs but this is disputed by some others. Dhows typically weigh 300 to 500 tons, and have a...

s provide connection to the island of Bongoyo.

The Coco Beach in Msasani is a popular holiday destination for Dar es Salaam inhabitants, although in the past shark attack

Shark attack

A shark attack is an attack on a human by a shark. Every year around 60 shark attacks are reported worldwide, although death is quite unusual. Despite the relative rarity of shark attacks, the fear of sharks is a common phenomenon, having been fueled by the occasional instances of serial attacks,...

s have been reported.