Despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, international travel is slowly resuming across the globe. Unfortunately, some countries are still unpredictable for tourists: places like France, Spain and Italy are constantly changing entry requirements, allowing or denying entry to citizens of different countries. Borders open and close with little notice, and could leave travelers stranded due to government changes. For many, there is quite a risk involved in booking a trip that may be cancelled at the last moment.
Further, the risks of contracting coronavirus (and especially its new strains) have not been eliminated. Traveling to large, congested cities or staying in a foreign country presents new challenges that many travelers didn’t consider before.
One nation has taken a very different approach than Europe, and even than the rest of the world: that is Tanzania.
First of all the entry requirements to Tanzania are very straight-forward and not ever-changing. To enter Tanzania travelers need only a negative PCR test for coronavirus. Upon arrival, you will still need to take an express test at the airport, which costs $25.
Tanzania has a very consistent travel restriction policy. Most recently (published May 2021), health management restricted entry from arrivals coming from India. Otherwise, travel into Tanzania is open. This country is dependent on tourism and interaction with neighbouring nations, and there is no indication that they will close the border again.
The risk of contracting coronavirus in Tanzania is very small, for several reasons:
✓ The number of tourists visiting Tanzania is relatively small compared to other major travel hubs. For example, in 2019, about 30,000,000 (thirty million) people visited Barcelona, while only 1,200,000 ( one million and two hundred thousand) visited Tanzania in that same timeframe.
✓ Social Distancing is easily accomplished for safari drives and mountain treks. Travel groups stay together and do not necessarily need to have any interaction with anyone outside of the climbing team or their safari group.
✓ Most of the activities travelers to Tanzania experience are outdoors, in fresh air. Game drives and wildlife viewing, hiking and trekking are all outdoor experiences. Lodges are well-spread apart from one another, not like multi-storey hotel building in major European cities. And mountain expeditions include comfortable camping outdoors in tents. Game drives and wildlife viewing, hiking and trekking are all outdoor experiences. Lodges are well-spread apart from one another, not like multi-storey hotel building in major European cities. And mountain expeditions include comfortable camping outdoors in tents.
Fortunately, the worst part of the pandemic is over. Flights are no longer being canceled with little notice and travelers have returned to Tanzania. Most of all, we do not want this story to repeat itself, so we are doing everything in our power to reduce the risks and protect our staff, and also our future guests.
From August 10 to 20, 2021,Intrepid Trekks carried out vaccinations for all employees. Everyone from managers, drivers, mountain and safari guides, chefs, hotel staff and other team members received the Johnson and Johnson Jansen vaccine, which provides reliable protection after the first dose.
In addition, even before vaccination,Intrepid Trekks had developed a number of measures to reduce the risk of contracting or spreading coronavirus in our team or to our guests.
For our climbing expeditions, safari drivers and hotel personnel we have mandated and overseen the use of antiseptic to clean work surfaces, as well as regular sanitizing of hands by all team members. Our support team is required to maintain physical distance in accordance with social distancing guidelines. We intend to uphold these rules even after the vaccination of our team, until such time as we see the disappearance of the coronavirus as a worldwide threat.
Safety and comfort of our expeditions is one of the priorities of Intrepid Trekks. Our travelers often write about this in their reviews (which can be read here). Part of our core value of safety includes reducing risks of coronavirus and ensuring our guests have peace of mind during their amazing time in Tanzania.
If you have concerns about traveling to Tanzania at this time, whether due to travel restrictions, health risks or other reasons, please feel free to contact us and learn more about our procedures and approaches to keep you safe, and our trip-refund guarantees.
