Arusha is Tanzania's gateway to the northern circuit of stellar national parks and the starting point of many a memorable safari. It's also a large, sprawling city, with all the contradictions that brings.
The town offers a nice break from the rigors of life on the African road; it has excellent places to stay and eat, and, for the most part, it's lush and green and enjoys a temperate climate throughout the year, thanks to its altitude (about 1300m) and its location near the foot of Mt. Meru.
Despite the promising subject matter—the museum celebrates the groundbreaking 1967 declaration by then-president Julius Nyerere calling for African self-reliance, socialism, and ujamaa (familyhood)—you'd have to be pretty bored to come to this unfocused little museum. Half the space is filled with photos of government officials. It improves slightly after that, with some photos from the colonial era and a handful of ethnographic artifacts.
At a time when newly independent African countries were struggling for direction, the Arusha Declaration took the continent by storm.