Tanzania is a country in East Africa sharing its border with Kenya and Uganda in the north then Rwanda , Burundi , Democratic republic of Kongo and Zambia in the west and Malawi and Mozambique in the South . In the eastern part there is Indian Ocean . Tanzania consists of the mainland Tanzania and also Zanzibar archipelago and some remote island in Indian Ocean . It has both Africa’s highest point Mt Kilimanjaro 5895 m and lowest point – base of Lake Tanganyika 1471 m . This country is 31 st biggest country in the world in terms of size and 24 th in terms of population with 61 million population . This country is most famous for its natural Beauty and Forest . Here temperature vary according to the Height . In Highland temperature is less but rest of country is hot , temperature varies between 20 – 35 C . In costal area weather is Hot and Humid . Tanzania stays in the southern Hemisphere .
Tanzania also control some islands like Zanzibar , Pemba and Mafia . This country has some world famous National Park like Seregeti National Park , Tarangire National Park , Ngorongoro crater , Lake Manyara National Park , selous game reserve . This are the General Information about Tanzania
Things to know before going to Tanzania
- Currency : Tanzanian Shelling TZS
- Capital: Dodoma
- Biggest City : Dar-es-salam
- Telephone code : +255
- Majority Religion : Islam and Christianity
- Language : Swahili and English
- HDI : 163 rd
- Driving side : Left
- Internet TLD : .tz
- Time zone : GMT + 3 hour
- International Airport : Julius Nyerere International Airport (Dar es salam) , Kilimanjaro International Airport (Near to the Kilimanjaro National Park ) , Zanzibar Abeid Amani Karume Airport (Zanzibar) .
- Major Bank in Tanzania : NMB(this bank have most of the ATM in Tanzania) , CRDB , NBC , KCB , ABSA .
- Telephone Network : Vodafone(I have personally used it but in Zanzibar network is very weak ) , Airtel , MIC , Viettel , TTCL
- Personal Transport : Uber , Boda Boda(This is two wheeler transport ) , Taxi , piki piki
- Public Transport : Bus , Dala Dala (This is like mini Bus ), Ferry , Train , Airplane , Rapid Buses(This are buses run on dedicated roads) , Bajaj (This is a three wheel vehicle)
- Electric specification : It uses 230 V and 50 Hz electricity . It has mainly type D and Type G plug .
- It’s National Anthem “Mungu Ibariki Africa ” is also the National Anthem of south Africa and zambia.
How to get Tanzania visa ?
You can get Tanzania visa by applying online or getting visa on arrival for tourist . The charge for the visa will be $ 50 . You also need yellow fever vaccination certificate and covid negative certificate .
- by applying online evisa in the following site https://eservices.immigration.go.tz/visa/start
- You can also get it in any of the entry point as submitting visa on arrival form and paying the money . You will get it in the all international Airport and also specified land border entry point .
transport in Tanzania
Air :
In Tanzania there is major International Airport and some Domestic Airport . The major Airports are
- Julius Nyerere International Airport : It is situated in the city of Dar -es-salam city of Tanzania . From here direct flight is available for India , China , UK , Europe , Middle – east and different countries in Africa .
- KIlimanjaro International Airport : This airport is mainly build for the tourist coming from the different parts of the Globe to voyage Mt Kilimanjaro .
- Mwanza International Airport
RAIL:
There are some domestic rail services which connect different city and also two international service connecting Dar-es-salam to Zambia and Moshi to Zambia. Most of the Rail Line is used for the freight carry .
Road :
In Tanzania major mode of transport for the Passenger is by Road . You will find Bus for long distance travel . Bus are reliable and and punctual . It will reach in correct time in the destination.I personally travel with Kilimanjaro Bus service from Moshi to Dar-es-salam.
Tanzanian currency :
The Currency of the country is Tanzania Shilling TZS which is issued by Bank Of Tanzania (Which is the central bank in Tanzania ). There is mainly five currency notes(10000 , 5000 , 2000 , 1000 , 500 ) and 4 types of coin (500 , 200 , 100 , 50)
There is also 500 , 200 , 100 , 50 , 20 , 10 , 5 coins that circulated in the market but mostly you will find the first four in the Market . I also seen very rarely the last three . As the TZS is very weak so for that coin you can buy very less . So It is not practical to use in the market .
Food in Tanzania :
In Tanzania there is 17 different types of banana . They used it as soup , strew , chips and also eat raw banana . Sometimes I saw they eat boiled banana .
mkate wa kumimina vitumbua
They have very similar food habits as Kenyan . You can see the Food section in Kenya general information page . also you can find some special food which only available in Tanzania like mkate wa kumimina (Tanzania rice bread ) , vitumbua (Rice pattis ) , Bagia , vileja ect .
Passion Fruit
In Zanzibar you find different types of fruit which only available in this island . In between the fruits big Banana (They size upto a hand ) , Mangosyene , Special spikey lichi , Avocardo , african Mango.
African Mango Zanzibar long Banana
Key Points :
- In Tanzania price of the currency very low . So before any expenditure please compare the price in your Local currency .
- For traveling to Zanzibar you need to go through immigration once again .
- This country is famous for Safari but safari is expensive so either you made group tour or reach to the gate of the National Park and then book for safari . This will make the trip more cheap .
- Be aware of the police . They were very corrupt , often then charge foreigners with silly charge and demand bribe .
Where to Stay ?
You can get lots of Hotels and Hostels in different cities . Also you can sleep in Tents in some National Park under the glooming night stars .
You can book all in Online Platform like Booking.com , Hostelworld.com and other site . Also you can also book by going to the property . As in Africa internet penetration is less and in some places people still use old phones so I would say better direct book manually . It would be a better option . I also see that offline you can get better hotels with cheap prices . Online hotels are Expensive likely .
