To be well equipped for your vacation or volunteering stay in Tanzania, we have put together a packing list for you. Also, you will find all important information about the documents you need to enjoy your stay abroad.
Recommended are travel socks for long-haul flights. These are available in all pharmacies. All clothes should be light at best. First of all, it does not attract the sun and secondly it is good against the mosquitoes not wearing so many colourful / dark colours. It is also advantageous to have clothes that dry quickly, do not wrinkle and are shoulder and knee covered. At best, leave any jewellery (watches, earrings, chains …) at home to be protected from theft.
Your passport should be valid for at least six months beyond the trip and have enough free pages for visas.
Generally, there are different visas. There is a tourist visa that is valid for 90 days and if you are here as a volunteer, you need a Volunteer Visa.
Get a Visa or MasterCard before your departure, which allows you to withdraw money abroad. Card payments are still not common and often not possible.
You should have a health insurance in case you become ill. It may also make sense that you get information about further insurance such as travel cancellation, luggage, etc.
All information regarding vaccinations should be discussed with your doctor. For a first overview, you can have a look at the page of the foreign office.
If you plan to travel longer, it may be useful to get a check up by your doctors (eg general practitioner, gynaecologist, dentist) so that they can make sure you can travel for a longer period of time.
In general, you should visit the Foreign Office pages before and during your travels to stay up to date regarding the political situation in the country that you are visiting.
You can register for the crisis prevention list on your country’s website so your embassy can ensure that you are brought back home in extreme cases of political complications, war or terror.
You should be aware of whether elections are taking place in your country during your absence, in order to give a confidant, the power of attorney for the upcoming election or to request absentee voting.
Among other things, it may be important for you to contact your labour office and explain that you cannot work in a home country, depending on how long will be abroad. The office will then register you as unemployed in the system to ensure that you do not receive any job offers. (Unless of course you have the opportunity to work online during your trip.)
When traveling alone you should be sure that you feel ready to take care of many things on your own. Of course, there will always be people who can help you and family and friends are always there for you, but you need to be aware that you need a lot of autonomy. You should also be able to spend time with yourself. You should always be open to the culture of the country you are traveling to, adapt especially the clothing style (knees or shoulders covered), always be vigilant on the road and take good care of your valuables and yourself.
Especially now that the dark and cold season begins in European countries, the seemingly endless landscapes under the warm equatorial sun seem even more tempting than usual. The first pictures of happy safari and relaxed beach holidaymakers reach the world and you wonder what’s stopping you from getting on a plane and travelling to Tanzania right away.
We understand why you doubt and it is absolutely right to inform yourself three times before you start your journey. To make the search for answers a little easier, here are our ‘Corona