What timezone is Zanzibar in?

Zanzibar uses the IANA timezone Africa/Dar_es_Salaam. The UTC offset is always UTC+3 - this timezone does not observe daylight saving time.

Does Zanzibar observe daylight saving time?

No. Zanzibar does not observe daylight saving time. The UTC offset remains UTC+3 all year round.

What is the current UTC offset for Zanzibar?

Zanzibar is currently at UTC+3.

What is the time difference between Zanzibar and New York?

Zanzibar is currently 7 hours ahead of New York.

What is the time difference between Zanzibar and London?

Zanzibar is currently 2 hours ahead of London.

Zanzibar, Tanzania · UTC+3

00:17:29

Friday, April 3, 2026

W14 ↑ 06:26 ↓ 18:29 No DST

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Zanzibar keeps East Africa Time, UTC+3, like the rest of Tanzania. But the island also uses a second system: Swahili time (saa ya kiswahili), a traditional 12-hour reckoning that begins at sunrise (roughly 6am civil time) rather than midnight. In Swahili time, what the civil clock calls 7am is “hour one” (saa moja), what civil time calls noon is “hour six” (saa sita), and so on.

The two systems run in parallel, and residents switch between them without obvious friction. When someone says “saa tatu” (hour three), they mean 9am civil time. When someone says “three o’clock,” they mean 3pm civil. The context disambiguates. Foreigners sometimes find themselves confused about meeting times until they confirm which clock is being used.

Stone Town, spice trade, and tidal clocks

Zanzibar’s history as the center of the East African spice trade, and its later role as a hub of the Indian Ocean slave trade, gave the island connections to South Asia, the Arabian Peninsula, and the African interior. The Stone Town UNESCO World Heritage site reflects this layered identity: Omani Arab architecture, Indian merchant carving, and British colonial overlay.

The tides of the Indian Ocean channel between Zanzibar and the mainland set another clock for fishermen and ferry operators: the dhow sailboats that still ply the channel depend on tidal windows and seasonal monsoon winds.

9am in Zanzibar is 6am in London. Dar es Salaam on the mainland shares East Africa Time.

Sources

Same time as Zanzibar

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Questions about time in Zanzibar

What timezone is Zanzibar in?: Zanzibar uses the IANA timezone Africa/Dar_es_Salaam. The UTC offset is always UTC+3 - this timezone does not observe daylight saving time.
Does Zanzibar observe daylight saving time?: No. Zanzibar does not observe daylight saving time. The UTC offset remains UTC+3 all year round.
What is the current UTC offset for Zanzibar?: Zanzibar is currently at UTC+3.
What is the time difference between Zanzibar and New York?: Zanzibar is currently 7 hours ahead of New York.
What is the time difference between Zanzibar and London?: Zanzibar is currently 2 hours ahead of London.
What is the time difference between Zanzibar and Los Angeles?: Zanzibar is currently 10 hours ahead of Los Angeles.
What is the time difference between Zanzibar and Tokyo?: Zanzibar is currently 6 hours behind Tokyo.
What is the IANA timezone name for Zanzibar?: The IANA timezone database identifier for Zanzibar is Africa/Dar_es_Salaam. Use this string in programming languages and APIs: JavaScript (`new Intl.DateTimeFormat('en-US', { timeZone: 'Africa/Dar_es_Salaam' })`), Python (`pytz.timezone('Africa/Dar_es_Salaam')`), or any IANA-compatible library.

Zanzibar, Tanzania · UTC+3 ☆