Safety Tips in Tanzania

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PLEASE PREPARE! Malaria can sometimes be fatal and at best may make you regret that you survived. Medicines must be taken sometimes weeks BEFORE you come here. There are 4 different species of Malaria and humans can get them all from the bite of an infected female Anopheles mosquito. Illness and death from malaria are largely preventable - if you plan ahead.
While you are here you need to use a repellent spray early in the morning and any periods of darkness, especially at night. The Bartender at my beach hotel had Malaria 3 times before he was 25. Do not take chances!

I would suggest you buy repellent with 100% DEET.

DEET

I have just escaped from one of my worst experiences in Arusha Tanzania last week -10th Nov 2009-I was stopped by corrupt Immigration officials in Arusha -they confiscated my British Passport[I am a white British male ] and they said taht I had come on an a bogus Visa,although I was granted a visitors Visa at Dar Airport on arrival for three months-my visa was still valid for 2/12 months when I was arrested.My Tanzanian hotel manager tried to intervene on my behalf -but was warned not to come in between-as they would also frame him on bogus charges and that they were considering raiding his hotel premises witha view to arresting some wazungus and extorting money from them.I was told by my Guide that these Immigration officials always target tourists around the Christmas time and YOU HAVE NO HOPE OF BEING HELPED BY ANY OFFICIALS-as they are all on the honey bounty.I realised this when I demanded to see the Regional Immigration Officer...who turned out to be a muppet ..a joker..eventually my hotel manager told me to settle with the corrupt senior immigration official-otherwise they would frame me up with bogus charges and hand me over to their corrupt Police colleagues -a case thye recently did with a AUSTRALIAN lady tourist.[HER OFFENCE...HELPING HER GUIDE TO COOK AT THE MASAAI MAARA CAMP SITE]
I had no choice,after speaking to everyone and everybody in Arusha and Dar-I found that all my comlplints fell on deaf ears-I finally settled by paying the corrupt immigration officials ..
650-000 TZS-so I COULD GET MY PASSPORT BACK.I was told by the Immigration officials that had I not settled today,they were going to frame me up on some charges and throw me in Jail.I could be in detention for months,and my passport would be confiscated..the British Embassy would be able to do NOTHING!
SO PLEASE BE AWARE-ALWAYS KEEP A PHOTOCOPY OF YOUR PASSPORT-AND VISA PAGE WITH YOU-AND KEEP YOUR ORIGINAL PASSPORT SOMEWHERE SAFE-NEVER HAND OVER YOUR PASSPORT TO IMMIGRATION OR POLICE -AS THEY WILL BLACKMAIL YOU WITH IT-TRY TO SETTLE WITH THEM THERE AND THEN-OFFER THEM "A BONE" AND TRY TO SHAKE THEM OFF SOONER RATHER THEN LATER.
I will never ever return to this lawless country.!

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As in many parts of Africa the roads in Tanzania are often not paved, making for bumpy, dusty rides. You will probably want to travel with the windows down much of the time – not only is it cooler, but you get more vivid impressions of the country (sights, scents and sounds) that way. So don’t wear your best clothes as whatever you have on will get grubby and will have a reddish tinge at the end of any long drive. You may find too, as we did on occasion, that the dusty will get in your throat and leave you thirsty and even coughing at times, but it’s all worth it for the experiences you will have a long the way.

Another thing to bear in mind is that all this dust will find its way onto more than just your clothing, so be sure to clean your camera every night if you don’t want the grit to seize up the mechanism or ruin your photos with unwanted black blobs!

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... but beware. On our first full day in Tanzania we visited Lake Manyara National Park, and after early encounters with a troop of baboons and some grazing giraffe, we were thrilled to spot our first elephant, a large bull. Reginald stopped the vehicle and we observed him eating for a short while, before he moved behind a bush to find some juicier leaves. So that we could carry on watching, Reginald backed up our vehicle a few yards, but in doing so unfortunately let one wheel drop off the side of the track into a gully below. When he tried to drive forwards again, we realised that the vehicle was stuck.

Not to worry – he had all the equipment he needed in order to lift it and get us moving again. However, when he opened his door he attracted the attention of the elephant, who started to move towards us, flapping his ears rather threateningly. Quickly Reginald slipped back into his seat, and shut the door. The elephant paused – but didn’t retreat. What to do now?

After a few minutes, when the elephant seemed to have turned his attention once more to eating, Reginald tried again, but no sooner was the door opened than he started to move towards us again. We were trapped. The thought started to occur to both Chris and me that the vehicle, though sturdy, would not stand too much interference from such a large beast. We questioned whether Reginald would be wise to make a third attempt at getting out, but couldn’t see how else we were going to get away. How long would it be before the elephant got bored and moved off?

Then Reginald came up with a plan. He used his two-way radio to see if any other safari vehicle was in the vicinity and luckily there was one only a few minutes’ drive away. Its driver came to our rescue, bringing his vehicle around the other side of “our” elephant and distracting him sufficiently for Reginald to at last climb out of ours and get us moving again.

We were never completely certain whether we had been in any real danger, or had just felt that we might be, but the incident was a dramatic introduction to our week on safari and gave us a healthy respect for the power of these huge beasts.

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A valid passport and visa are still required for all visiting Tanzania. However, a visa can also be obtained at any of the country’s entry points. The costs did recently go up to US$100 (cash only). I cannot stress strongly enough the importance of always be conscious of your surroundings. I consider myself a seasoned traveler and I sill fall prey sometimes. During my last trips I decided to travel as the locals do by bus from Kenya, I purchased and received my Tanzanian visa (no problem) and begin to make my way from the Kenya boarder into Tanzania (there is about 20 feet of no man’s land) meaning your nether in Kenya or Tanzania and your fair game to the pick pockets, peddlers selling their wares, and just about anything else that lurks in that space. Walking along I felt something moving (more like a tug) on the back of my arm, and as I turn to look behind me I found someone elbow deep in my bag luckily the only thing in there was film, a bottle of water, and a couple of magazines. He immediately backed off (mainly because I pushed him so hard he stumbled) and my bus driver was at my side pronto. With that said, it is 99.1% safe. Just be aware.

If you’re not quite ready for that kind of adventure just yet, no problem give your self plenty of time to get your visa prior to your arrival.

Happy Travels!

02 April 2008.

I wish to inform you that Tanzania Health Authority has advised that all passengers traveling to Tanzania will be required to produce a valid yellow fever Vaccination Certificate upon arrival in any entry point to Tanzania.
This requirement also covers visitors from East African Community partner states.
The vaccination validity is at least 10 days before date of travel.

Once walking with a friend down a street in Moshi town, a man apporached us asking if we wanted a safari (this is a very common occurence), when we refused his offer he started spouting off about drugs, asking us if wanted to "kiss the sky". My advice is, do not buy any street drugs in Tanzania. I cannot emphasis this enough. The punishments are extremly harsh even for small amounts of marijuana. You will arressted thrown into Tanzanian jail, and at the mercy of your country's embassy (if they choose to assit you). Forgeiners do not get any special treatment when it comes to illicit drugs.

Acute mountain sickness due to the altitude is the one thing on Kilimanjaro that we saw a lot. If you exhibit ataxia (can't stand with feet together and arms by your sides with your eyes closed) then you are supposed to immediately descend.

To properly acclimatize, you would need to ascend only 1000 ft (305m) per day with a rest day every 3rd day if you're at 10,000 ft (3,048m) or higher. We didn't want to stay up there that long so I took Diamox and had no problems. Others were quitting early, throwing up, and suffering... ultimately not making it to the top.

We initially saw people looking sick at the Lava Tower. Previous groups who were chatty no longer talked. Some people had headaches that wouldn't go away, even with pain killers. Once we got to Barranco camp people still had bad headaches. Most people complained that they felt sick at Karranga camp and then even more so during the summit attempt. One woman threw up 12 times and "crawled her way to the rim", but had to turn around instead of go to the summit. Another woman was evacuated due to cerebal edema and went to the hospital.

In our group, the people that had no problems at all were those who acclimatized by climbing Mt. Meru before Kilimanjaro or those who took Diamox. I took 250 mg twice a day starting the morning of day 3. My friend took it after Lava Tower when she had a "skull-crushing headache". The drug forced me to breathe faster so my nose and throat dried out, and my lips felt tingly the first day and my fingers felt tingly after a couple days of taking it, but that was it.