Lions & Leopards & Cheetahs, oh my! - Planning & Preparation

Besides deciding on where you want to go, what you want to see and do, and for how long, there are a few other things to keep in mind.

1. You should have trip insurance. This is an expensive trip. Shop around for some travel insurance that will cover you in case you have to cancel, get sick, lose luggage, etc.

2. Going to Tanzania will require visas. Although we are living in Germany, as US citizens, we had to apply for  visas and pay the $100 a piece because we are from the US. I applied about a month ahead of our trip. It took me a while to work with their tricky website. Using my phone didn't work. I tried both Safari and Chrome browsers and parts would load on the website but there were a lot of glitches. I found that using Chrome on my laptop was much easier. Also accessing the website at certain times of the day seemed to help.

Be very careful about finding the exact correct website to apply for your visa, there are a lot of copycat sites out there. You will need your passport, a passport photo (I took photos from my phone with a white wall behind and they were accepted).

It took about 3 days for each application to be approved. I received approval and printed the document that was sent because it needs to be handed to an immigration officer at the arrival airport.

3. Make sure you have medical coverage that works internationally. We were fortunate that our current insurance already covered us. Our tour company also recommended that we pay $40 per person for coverage with Flying Doctors in case we needed an emergency evacuation from a remote location, but we didn't end up getting or needing it. If either of us had medical issues, we probably would have gotten this.

4. Check and see what medicines or vaccinations you might need at least a couple of months in advance of your trip. We went to a travel medicine clinic at our area hospital, and they were able to write prescriptions and evaluate what vaccinations we should have. In all, it took us a couple of weeks to get this done.

5. TIPPING - This is the one for which I wish I was more prepared. Tanzania accepts Tanzanian shillings, US dollars, and Euros - and maybe others?! We went with plenty of US dollars but not enough small bills. **It is important to note that coins are not AT ALL useful to locals.

Tipping recommendations are:

$10/ per person, per day for your guide

$8-10/ per person, per day for your hotel staff - there is often a tip box so that you can leave a whole tip that is divided up for staff, because you will not see all staff, such as those in the kitchen, but they still appreciate the tip.

$1 per bathroom visit at a rest area/shop. At the nicer restroom stops, there was always someone mopping the floor, turning on the water for you, giving you a pump of soap and paper towels... Having $4-5 per day in one dollar bills would be adequate.

Check all your money before you leave home because bills older than 10 years are not accepted/useful!