Travel to Tanzania

Flying to Tanzania

There are frequent direct and indirect flights to Tanzania by numerous international airlines. Local airlines Air Tanzania (www.airtanzania.co.tz) and Precision Air (www.precisionairtz.com) serve regional and domestic destinations only. International carriers flying to Tanzania include Emirates (www.emirates.com), Etihad Airways (www.etihad.com), Kenya Airways (www.kenya-airways.com), KLM (www.klm.com) and Turkish Airlines (www.turkishairlines.com) among others.

Airline fare prices to Tanzania stay pretty consistent around the year.

The major aiprot is: Dar Es Salaam Nyerere International Airport.

Airport Guides

Flight times

From London - 11 hours (including stopover); New York - 19 hours (including stopover).

Departure tax

Included in the air fare.

Travelling to Tanzania by Rail

The route between Dar es Salaam and Kapiri Moshi in Zambia is run by the Tanzania and Zambia Railway Authority (Tazara) (www.tazarasite.com).

Rail note

The train journey from Dar es Salaam to Zambia is very long (around 50 hours) and there are frequent delays. Trains get very crowded and travellers should take special care of their baggage. Always travel in first class in a two- or four-sleeper compartment. When the train crosses the border between the two countries, immigration officials board the train to complete border formalities.

Driving to Tanzania

The main international road crossings into Tanzania are from Kenya. The most used is the border crossing at Namanga, about halfway between Nairobi and Arusha. The other principal border crossing is south of Mombasa on the coast at Lunga Lunga, from where the nearest large Tanzanian town is Tanga. There are quieter border crossings at Taveta, between Voi and Moshi, and Isebania on the main road between Kisumu and Mwanza.

Border crossings from other neighbouring countries include the Songwe border with Malawi and the Tunduma border with Zambia, both of which are in the southwestern corner of Tanzania and are reached by a good (but long) road from Dar es Salaam. There is a crossing with Uganda at Mutukulu, northwest of Bukoba, but this is a rough road and a remote region to get to. The easiest way to get to Uganda from Tanzania is via Nairobi in Kenya, from where there are daily bus services to Kampala.

There is a border crossing with Rwanda at Rusomo, although again this is in the remote northwestern part of Tanzania although there are bus services between Mwanza and Kigali. Tanzania does share a border with Mozambique to the south, but road access between the two countries is very limited.

Driving note

There are many local bus companies that ply the main routes over the borders. Several companies run comfortable shuttle bus services between Nairobi and Arusha and Moshi in Tanzania. These are aimed at tourists who fly into Nairobi and are visiting the game parks in Tanzania’s northern circuit region from Arusha, or are climbing Mt Kilimanjaro from Moshi. The buses take about 5-6 hours in either direction, and drivers assist passengers with border procedures. Riverside Shuttles (www.riverside-shuttle.com) offers a reliable daily service.

For long-distance cross-border bus travel, recommended for visitors is Scandinavia Express (www.scandinaviagroup.com), which has frequent daily departures to and from Nairobi and Arusha, Moshi and Dar es Salaam, Nairobi and Mwanza, and Mombasa and Dar es Salaam. It also offers daily services between Nairobi and Kampala in Uganda, and from Dar es Salaam to Lusaka in Zambia.

Getting to Tanzania by boat

The main port is Dar es Salaam (www.tanzaniaports.com) which is served by commercial ships but no passenger services from other countries. It does however serve as the departure point for ferry services to Zanzibar.

Cruise ships

Some cruise ships dock at Zanzibar.

Ferry operators

Passenger ferry services run on Lake Tanganyika to Mpulunga (Zambia). They also used to run to Bujumbura (Burundi), but it's not known if this service is likely to start running again. There is sporadic and unreliable ferry service on Lake Nyasa linking Tanzania with Malawi.