Ifoto

A visor to our backyard, shot on Vivo 200 Pro.

As a lot of people are interested in trips to Tanzania am posting a summary and answers to some questions i had before my recent overland trip to Tanzania.

This is a very long post. If you don’t have the time for it I have an Instagram account
https://www.instagram.com/vyspic/
where I have posted the trip as stories. The stories have been saved into two highlights
Tanzania 2019 Trip 1
https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/18085393555088414/
And
Tanzania 2019 Trip 2
https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17863188001612316/

From last year I have been posting some of my trips as stories on this account and if you are interested in those please do follow me. I am headed out to an overland trip in India soon.

We drove a total of 4300Km starting from Kigali back to Kigali. The major towns we visited were Kahama, Singida, Dodoma, Morogoro, Iringa and Dar es Salaam. The trip route is indicated in red on the Osmand Screenshot. The initial drive till the border is typical Rwandan drive, only after Kayonza, there is a bit of road construction going on. The border crossing was a bit hectic on the way out due to rush hour, will give more details below. First 120km in Tanzania has horrible roads, estimate at least 3 to 4 hours for this section. We took the trip at a very slow pace as we wanted to stay and see all the towns on the way.
Kahama was surprisingly bigger than what I had in mind having driven through the town before. I guess the gold mining industry brings a lot of people to the region. Lake Singida and the town are beautiful. Lake Singida being alkaline attracts flamingos, I saw a few lesser flamingos. We stayed at the Regency Hotel and Resort on the lake nice rooms for a great price. Iringa is a beautiful town and I would recommend the Iringa Boma and Mama Iringa restaurant to anyone visiting the town.
Dodoma does not have the charms of a modern-day capital city but still, it is a big town with quite a high population. The museum that comes up on google maps is under construction so do not bother searching for it. We only came to know about this from the national museum in Dar.
Morogoro with its mountains is also a beautiful town, we stayed at the Antique Legacy hotel, nice modern and clean facility. They have a bakery on the ground floor, I would highly recommend the long soft mandazis from there.
That is all about the towns if anyone needs any more information do PM me.
Ruaha national park is the largest national park in Tanzania, it is huge and visitor numbers are also very low. On most days we saw 2 or 3 cars and we already knew them. If you do not like crowded parks this one is for you. I very much appreciated the fact that no eager drivers were trying to impress their guests and scaring off animals especially leopards. We spent hours with animals that we spotted with no disturbance at all. One of the leopards was so bored that he came out to the road to find out more about the big black animal that wanted to stare at him for such a long time. Summer would be way better like in any park as water sources become limited but even for the green season sightings were good.
Dar its beaches and food is a welcome relaxation for anyone. Do not book the older more famous hotels like White sands as there are so many new hotels at far cheaper rates and better property and services. I would say I made a mistake to book at White sands just for the sake of Familiarity.

Q&A
What do we need to get Visa for Tanzania and how long does it take?
I am an Indian passport holder; we get visa on arrival 50USD per person. They put a stamp and give you some receipts. The process was quite straight forward and hassle-free. Some other tourists had applied online, they also had to wait the same amount of time as we did. I was also told that Americans pay 100USD instead of 50USD. The Tanzanian immigration website has a list of countries they offer Visa on arrival to, actually the list is for countries that they do not give visa on arrival to and it is assumed that all other get visa on arrival.
The queues can get very long especially when buses are coming in. On the way out we spent around an hour and a half in the queue. We reached the border by 8:45 AM and left at around noon Rwandan time. Next time I would try to reach by 10 AM as the rush seemed to diminish by them. However, keep in mind that the bad roads after the border will easily take up 3 or 4 hours when raining. So you would have to stay at Kahama if you are planning this way. Another point to note is that you have to carry your yellow fever vaccination card, they insist on seeing this document. Also, they check for fever, if you are running a fever better postpone.
What papers are needed for your car and where to get them from?
We need to take a COMESA insurance, this is best done in Kigali, this is your third-party insurance when driving in other East African countries.
You need to have a letter from the owner or the Director of the company owning the vehicle if it is not in your name. You also need a copy of the ID of the owner or director. The letter needs to have a phone number they can call to verify. This is given to the RRA office at the border. They will give you a Temporary Export Permit. With the TEP you must go to the Tanzania Revenue Authority (Next window with a long queue), they will give you a proforma for temporary import. You must take this to the TRA cashier and pay with a debit or credit card the amount (20USD for 30 days for my Prado). Then you come back to the first counter with the receipt and they will give you a gate pass and the TIP document. Except for the COMESA, the TEP and TIP are done at the border along with the payment, gate pass etc. If the RRA or TRA counters are busy, they usually are because of the heavy good flow through this border, you will take more than an hour for this process. It is better to estimate that time frame into your travel time budgeting. Apart from this, you need to register your car in the Police and Customs logbooks at the exit point.

How are the Road conditions in Tanzania?
Generally, the roads are narrow tarmacked roads with madmen driving trucks and busses. There are very bad stretches all along. I think the overloading of trucks is destroying these roads. There are deep ruts in some areas that can be very tricky. Some segments are butter smooth especially when heading south to Iringa. Tanzam high was also relatively better, except for the deep ruts created by overloaded trucks.
A stretch of 120 KM starting from Rusumo on the way to Kahama is horrible, especially because there are patches of Tarmac with pothole the size of ponds. There were parts of this road that had mud and water causing several trucks/cars to get stuck.
When driving from Iringa to the Ruaha National Park entrance the roads are not tarmacked almost all the way, however as there is no traffic and it is pretty well graded you don’t find it tiring.
Roads inside the park during the green season are horrible, we got stuck twice. I would recommend carrying a Hi-Lift, tracks and at least a hand winch.
On the way to Dar es Salaam, the roads are under construction from Chalinze, I would recommend heading north to Msata and then turning right to Bagamoyo to avoid this extremely congested segment. The said detour has nice roads all the way till Dar, narrow as usually but well paved and maintained.

How to deal with the police on the Tanzanian road?
They are very friendly, and their only aim is to try and get some money from you. I was determined not to fall for their traps in any way. So, I had all my documents right as mentioned in an answer above. Apart from documents you need to ensure you have 1 First Aid Kit, 1 Fire Extinguisher metal 1 KG can (The usual 200Gm canisters are not acceptable), 2 Reflectors, Jack and tool kit. All light and indicators tested working. Always carry your passport with you as they can ask for that also.
The speed limit is 80KM on open stretches, 50KM in town village areas and some trick 30Km zones near hospitals construction areas etc. I kept under the said speed limits by 5KM just to be sure that I don’t give them a reason. All the radar gun-wielding officer had a look of disappointment on their face when they saw me chugging along under the speed limit. I really enjoyed that, to be honest. However, they had another trick up their sleeves, in many areas the lines on the road are almost completely gone. They caught me for overtaking in a straight-line area when I told them that the line was not even visible he replied that it was TANROAD responsibility not his, he said this with a Grinch-like smile. Anyways it is easy to deal with them do not argue they will try to implicate more charges if they feel like you are not falling for their trap. If you want to pay the real fine to be very careful, they will play all tricks to make sure you accept a spot fine (that goes to their pocket) instead.
How to book at Ruaha and where to stay?
For park entry, you can just go to the main gate and pay with a credit/debit card. Carry multiple cards to ensure that at least one works because they do not accept cash. Entry is 30USD per Adult and 10 USD for the child. The car is 40 for a car up to 2 tons tare weight. They have Bandas and cottages. The Bandas are 30 USD per person and the Cottages are 50 per person. They also have a family cottage that goes for 100USD. Unlike what they advertise the Bandas did have toilets in them. They also have many campsites all over the main tourist zone which itself is very big. The main campsites have toilets and cooking area, some had a community area with solar charging facility and cooking areas. The campsite had very nice views like right on the main rivers. Which is where you want to be if going in summer.
Many lodges are operating within the park, but I felt all of them are overpriced. Also, note that there are many lodges for more reasonable prices just outside the park gates. I would not recommend those either as It would be best to stay inside the park as it maximises your game viewing time. Also unlike other parks Ruaha is huge and getting from one point to another takes time. If you can camp at the campsite that is what I would recommend the most, especially the remote special campsites. The number for Ruaha headquarters is +255756144400 and the Tourism officers number is +255755027470
Do I need to take a 4x4 for a trip to Ruaha or Dar?
To Dar, you definitely do not need a 4X4 however a Landcruiser or a minimum of Rav4 is highly recommended as I mentioned earlier. However, to Ruaha, you definitely need a 4x4 in the green season. My Prado was not capable enough and the trip has sent me into modification/up-gradation thoughts. I am thinking of better shocks, a proper 4x4 bulbar and a 4 Ton winch. You will be driving at least 800Km on bad roads on a trip to Ruaha. Some of it boggy cotton soil so better to be prepared. In summer a standard Prado that is well maintained would be more than enough for this trip. Other travellers whom I met at the park were telling me the situation at Mikumi and Selous with almost 80% black cotton soil was really bad.

If you have any questions or need some information do send me a PM.

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The selfless act of this women needs to be supported.