Before You Book

PREPARING TO GO TO TANZANIA

CAPITAL

Dadoma

LANGUAGE

Kiswahili and English are the official languages. The terms Swahili and Kiswahili are used interchangeably, though the term Swahili normally refers to the people while Kiswahili refers to the language.

RELIGION

Approximately 65% of the population are Christian. Muslim’s account for 30% of the population, Animist for 5%.

LOCAL TIME

Eastern African Time (EAT) is 3 hours ahead of GMT.

ELECTRICITY

240 Volts - sockets are usually of the British, three pronged variety.

PASSPORT & VISA

A valid passport is required by all nationals. All Passengers are responsible for securing proper documentation prior to joining the tour. Please ensure that passport/s are valid for a minimum of 6 months beyond the intended date of return and contain between 2-6 blank “Visa” pages. You should have at least two free pages in your passport. Please access the Travel & Visa Requirements Section on the top of this page for the latest visa entry requirements for the country/ies you are visiting. Passports are required; in addition, travelers are also advised to check with local consulates for full details regarding visa requirements. Please note securing a valid visa for entry is the sole responsibility of the traveler.

Social conventions:

When meeting and parting, hands are always shaken; this applies throughout the country in both rural and urban areas. It is the convention to use the right hand, not the left, to shake hands or pass or receive anything. The standard greeting of 'hello' is jambo. People are delighted if visitors can greet them in Kiswahili.

LOCAL CURRENCY

Tanzanian Shilling (TZS; symbol TSH). Notes are in denominations of TSh10,000, 5000, 2,000, 1,000 and 500. Coins are in denominations of TSh200, 100, 50, 20 and 10 but these are worth very little and are rarely used. In Kiswahili, it is shilingi and written prices are often denoted with the symbol /=; i.e. 100/= is the same as TSh100. XE.com is a useful site for currency conversion.

Please note Tanzanian banks, hotels, and shops will no longer accept American bank notes that are dates before 2006. Any currency with dates of 2005 and earlier are no longer usable.

Credit cards:

Most top-end hotels, safari lodges, airlines and tour operators accept Visa and MasterCard (American Express and Diners Club less so), though a commission of 2-5% is usually charged. Budget hotels and most restaurants and shops do not accept credit cards, and they are rarely accepted for payment outside the main tourist areas.

ATM:

Cash easily can be withdrawn from ATMs using Visa or MasterCard. Any sizeable town has at least one bank with an ATM, and there are ATMs at the larger airports. ATMs generally only dispense notes in increments of TSh 10,000 and these larger notes are often hard for people to change – hoard smaller change whenever possible to pay for taxi fares, snacks, souvenirs and the like.

Banking hours:

Mon-Fri 0830-1530; Sat 0830-1300. Bureaux de change have longer hours and, in the cities, and in Stone Town on Zanzibar are open on Sundays.

Currency exchange:

US dollars are the best currency to take to Tanzania as it is widely accepted alongside Tanzanian Shilling to pay for hotel bills, souvenirs and and is needed to purchase visas on arrival. Bring newer notes – because of the prevalence of forgery, many places (including banks and bureaux de change) do not accept US dollar bills printed before 2005. Large dollar bills (such as US$50 and US$100) command a better exchange rate than smaller ones. Ensure bills are not torn or damaged.

Luggage:

Please note the luggage allowance on our scheduled flights is strictly 15KGS PER PERSON and SOFT BAGS are highly recommended, if not essential. In light aircraft the baggage area and weight allowance are limited. Hard Samsonite type suitcases do not fit into the cargo compartment easily, if at all. Due to limited space available for storage in safari vehicles, we strongly recommend the use of soft duffle bags rather than hard suitcases.

CLOTHING

Lightweight clothing is worn throughout the year, but in the cooler season, from June to September, jackets and sweaters may be needed, especially in the evenings. Clothing appropriate to temperatures below zero is required on the higher slopes of Kilimanjaro and Meru. Also note that it can get very cold at night on the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater and early morning game drives may be chilly before the sun comes up.

COMMUNICATION & EMAILS

Telephone:

In most towns there is an efficient local and international service from public coin and card phone boxes operated by the Tanzania Telecommunications Company Ltd. (TTCL) (www.ttcl.co.tz). These are usually outside or within the post office and in the cities, there are separate TTCL offices for phone, fax and Internet. Connections are quick and about a third of the price of a call through hotels, which are expensive for phone calls and faxes.

Mobile phone:

Roaming agreements exist with most international mobile phone companies. Tanzania’s many cellular networks cover almost all towns, the urban sections of the coast, Zanzibar, and the tourist areas, but not some of the parks and reserves or the southwest of Tanzania away from the towns and the main road. SIM and top-up cards for the pay-as-you-go mobile providers are available just about everywhere; in the towns and cities they often have their own shops, but you can buy cards from roadside vendors anywhere, even in the smallest of settlements.

Internet:

Email can be accessed in internet cafés in main urban areas, which are affordable and efficient. Even smaller towns have at least one, usually on the main street. In the more remote towns, where a satellite connection is used, costs can be a little higher. Tourists can also access the internet in many hotels.

Post:

There are post offices even in the smallest of towns (www.posta.co.tz). Post office hours: Generally, Mon-Fri 0800-1630; Sat 0900-1200

Press:

Government-owned Daily News is Tanzania's oldest newspaper. There are also private English-language newspapers The Guardian and This Day as well as private weeklies Business Times, The Express and Arusha Times.

Shopping in Tanzania

Pick up African crafts and curios at most popular tourist centres. Dar es Salaam, Arusha and Stone Town on Zanzibar are dotted with curio shops, markets and bazaars, and main roads near parks and reserves, and the coast roads behind beach resorts, all have plenty of roadside stalls. Items to buy include African drums, batiks, basket-ware, soapstone knick-knacks, handmade chess sets, paintings of Masai tribes and Serengeti landscapes in the popular Tingatinga style, and large wooden carvings of animals or salad bowls fashioned from a single piece of teak, mninga or ebony.

Masai items such as beaded jewellery, decorated gourds and the distinctive red-checked blankets worn by all Masai men make good souvenirs. Kangas and kikois are sarongs worn by women and men respectively and are often in bright colours and patterns. These are made into other items including clothes, cushion covers and bags. In Zanzibar, find old tiles, antique bowls and the famous carved wooden Zanzibar chests (once used by the Sultans to store their possessions, but today ornate replicas), and pick-up packets of Zanzibar's famous spices in Stone Town, as well as on a spice tour.

A Tanzanian speciality is the semi-precious stone called tanzanite, which ranges from deep blue to light purple and is only found around Arusha. Tanzanite jewellery can be seen in upmarket curio and jewellers’ shops in Arusha, Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar's Stone Town.

Whilst most prices in shops are set, the exception are curio shops where a little good-natured bargaining is possible, especially if it’s quiet or you are buying a number of things. Bargaining is very much expected in the street markets.

Shopping hours:

Mon-Fri 0800-1730; Sat 0830-1230. Some tourist shops open on Sunday, while some Muslim-owned supermarkets and other businesses close on Friday afternoons but may also be open on Sunday. On Zanzibar, some shops close for a siesta from around 1200-1500 but stay open later until around 1900. In the larger cities markets are open daily 0800-1800.

Please Note:

CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) was established to prevent trade in endangered species. Attempts to smuggle controlled products can result in confiscation, fines and even imprisonment. International trade in elephant ivory, rhino horn, sea turtle products and the skins of wild cats, such as leopard, is illegal.

WEATHER & CLIMATE

The climate is tropical and coastal areas are hot and humid, while the northwestern highlands are cool and temperate. There are two rainy seasons; the short rains are generally from October to December, while the long rains last from March to June. The central plateau tends to be dry and arid throughout the year.

Tanzania can be visited year-round, although the best time for travelling is outside of the rainy season between June and October, when temperatures stay well below their summer peaks. Beach side locations like Zanzibar can be fine to visit during the hotter months of December to January, when ocean breezes make the high temperatures bearable (though humidity can still be high).

Dar Es Salaam: (approx)

MEALS

Approximate costs for meals and snacks not included are shown below:

• Simple snack: $US 3-5
• Light meal: $US 5-10
• 3 course meal: $US 10-15
• Fancy restaurant: $US 25+

DRINKS

Approximate costs for drinks bought in a shop in the street are shown below. Prices in restaurants, hotels, and cruise boats can be as much as double those specified.

• 1.5l of water: $US 0.50
• 30cl bottle of soft drink: $US 0.50
• 33cl bottle of beer: $US 0.60-2

Tanzania Food and Drink

Food in Tanzania greatly varies depending on where you are in the country and what food products are available locally. On the mainland and away from the coast, most hotels serve Tanzanian dishes that usually consists of meat stews or fried chicken, accompanied by staples including chips, boiled potatoes or ugali (maize meal porridge eaten all over Africa). Many Tanzanian towns have a significant population of second-generation immigrants from the Indian sub-continent, and restaurants serving Indian dishes like biryani, spicy curries and chapatti bread are not uncommon.

On the coast, the Indian Ocean provides a full range of seafood, and the Swahili style of food is delicately flavoured by spices and coconut milk and features fragrant rice, grilled fish and prawn curries; it's best sampled on Zanzibar where a tourist must-do is to treat yourself to a whole lobster (at a surprisingly affordable price). Tropical fruit such as coconuts, pawpaws, mangoes, pineapples and bananas are abundant, as are the delicious fresh juices made from them. There is much greater variety of cuisines in the cities and tourist spots.

Dar es Salaam is a fairly cosmopolitan large city with a good choice of world-food restaurants (the likes of Thai or Japanese feature for example) and the major hotels and safari lodges offer Western and other international food. Many of the larger beach resorts and safari lodges offer breakfast, lunch, and dinner buffets for their all-inclusive guests. These vary greatly – some can be fairly limited and of poor quality while others offer a generous selection of fine top-class cuisine.

Specialties:

• Nyama choma (barbecued meat).
• Ugali (maize meal porridge).
• Mandazi (doughnuts).
• Kachumbari (spicy tomato relish served with meat).
• Wali wa nazi (rice cooked with coconut milk).
• Mchuzi wa kamba (prawn curry with tomatoes).
• Matoke (boiled and mashed plantain).
• Mishkaki (beef kebabs).

Regional drinks:

• Safari (a good lager that is produced locally).
• Konyagi (a popular, cheap, and frightfully strong gin).
• Coffee (is an Arabica variety grown on the slopes of Kilimanjaro and served black in small porcelain cups).
• Chai (tea served very sweet in small glasses especially on the coast and Zanzibar).

SUGGESTED TIPPING SCALE:

Tipping is a way of showing your appreciation and will be welcomed by the recipient, although if you decide not to tip in a particular circumstance, this does not mean you’ll receive a lower level of service. Ultimately, tipping is discretionary and should be done at a level that feels comfortable.

In Tanzania tipping is not expected but a tip of around 10% for good service is greatly appreciated by restaurant and hotel staff, most of whom receive very low pay. Large hotels, safari lodges and beach resorts many have tip boxes in the reception to be shared amongst the staff.

Here are some guidelines that you may find helpful:

HEALTH & MEDICAL REQUIREMENTS & GUIDELINES

As a general recommendation, it is advisable to check with your family doctor or travel clinic for latest health information.

YELLOW FEVER:

A yellow fever vaccination certificate is required for travellers over 1 year of age arriving from countries with risk of yellow fever transmission and for travellers having transited for more than 12 hours through an airport of a country with risk of yellow fever transmission.  WHO vaccination recommendation:  Generally, not recommended for travellers to the United Republic of Tanzania.

TRAVEL INSURANCE

It is highly recommended that you purchase travel insurance. Your home country health plan may only provide limited coverage while traveling outside of the country. Indus Travels can offer you a complete travel insurance package. Some credit cards do offer travel insurance; however, they do not always provide adequate coverage. Review and understand the terms of your credit card insurance policy. Extra travel insurance can be purchased. Most insurance companies do have exclusions in their coverage. Pre-existing medical conditions are not insurable.