The dataset comprises high resolution (0.0375 degrees) satellite-derived daily rainfall estimates for all Africa from January 1983 to December 2015 (data from 2016 onwards can be downloaded from the TAMSAT website: http://www.met.reading.ac.uk/~tamsat). The dataset is derived from the TAMSAT African Rainfall Climatology And Time-series (TARCAT) dataset (1983-present). Further details can be found in the daily data guide for users, available from the TAMSAT website.