Tanzania

• Rules
• Geography

Attention: This information is to be used as general guidelines and may not be updated to meet the current requirements. Before you travel, be sure to contact the appropriate authorities for your destination country.

Moving Pets to Tanzania

PET TRAVEL IMPORT RULES AND REQUIREMENTS

You must have an import permit to bring a pet into Tanzania.

Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Animal Industry Subdivision.

Please initiate this action far in advance since the procedures are time-consuming.

For cats and dogs, include the description, gender, age, and breed of the pet and expected date of arrival.

For both cats and dogs, include a certificate that the animal has been vaccinated against rabies at least 30 days and not more than 1 year before entry into Tanzania.

No dogs or cats younger than 7 months old will be allowed into Tanzania without proper documentation.

The veterinarian will complete the entry permit and return it to the Embassy for forwarding to the owner.

The permit, along with a health certificate from a licensed veterinarian issued within 7 days of departure for Tanzania, should be attached to the pet's shipping crate.

Keep copies of these documents to facilitate their export from Tanzania. '

Once the pet is in Tanzania, you should note that a yearly rabies vaccine is required by law.  This applies whether or not the pet has had a three-year shot (like those given in the U.S.), and/or doesn't need a booster.

All shots, especially parvo, must be up to date. Bring all medications for your pets with you. It is possible to obtain a 3-month heartworm shot in lieu of monthly medication if you prefer.

A local vet is available in Dar Es Salaam.

Geography

Tanzania is located in Eastern Africa, bordering the Indian Ocean, between Kenya and Mozambique .The Geographical coordinates are 6 00 S, 35 00 E .It has the total area of 945,090 sq km including land area of886,040 sq km and water of 59,050 sq km in which  the islands of Mafia, Pemba, and Zanzibar are also included.

It is bordered on the south by Mozambique, Malawi, and Zambia; on the west by Zaire, Burundi, and Rwanda; on the north by Uganda and Kenya; and on the east by the Indian Ocean. Tanzania is the largest of the East African nations, and it possesses a geography as mythic as it is spectacular.

In the northeast of Tanzania is a mountainous region that includes Mt. Meru (14,979 ft/4,566 m) and Mount Kilimanjaro (19,340 ft./5,895 m), the latter of which is the highest point in Africa and possibly the most breathtaking mountain imaginable. To the west of these peaks is Serengeti National Park, which has the greatest concentration of migratory game animals in the world (200,000 zebra, for example). Within the Serengeti is Olduvai Gorge, the site of the famous discoveries by the Leakeys of fossil fragments of the very earliest ancestors of Homo sapiens. The Serengeti also contains the marvelous Eden of Ngorongoro, a 20-mile-wide volcanic crater that is home to an extraordinary concentration and diversity of wildlife.

Moving west from the Serengeti, one reaches the shores of Lake Victoria, the largest lake on the continent and one of the primary headwater reservoirs of the Nile. Southwest of Lake Victoria, and forming Tanzania's border with Zaire, is Lake Tanganyika, the longest and (after Lake Baikal) deepest freshwater lake in the world. It was at Ujiji, a village on the Tanzanian shore of Lake Tanganyika, that H.M. Stanley presumably encountered David Livingstone in 1871. Livingstone had fallen ill while searching for the source of the Nile, and despite his illness he refused to leave. Instead, he persuaded Stanley to accompany him on a journey to the north end of Lake Tanganyika. The region that they passed through has since become famous as Gombe National Park, the site of Jane Goodall's chimpanzee research station.

Southeast of Lake Tanganyika is a mountainous region that includes Lake Malawi (previously Lake Nyala), the third largest lake on the continent. East of Lake Malawi is the enormous expanse of the Selous Game Reserve, the largest in Africa with over 21,000 sq. mi. (55,000 sq. km.) and perhaps more than 50,000 elephants.

Moving northeast from Selous brings one to Tanzania's low, lush coastal strip, the location of its largest city, Dar es Salaam. Dar Es Salaam is the embarkation point for Zanzibar, the fabled emerald isle that lies off the Tanzanian coast. Border countries are Burundi 451 km, Kenya 769 km, Malawi 475 km, Mozambique 756 km, Rwanda 217 km, Uganda 396 km, Zambia 338 km.

Capital      Dodoma  

Languages  English, Kiswahili

Currency   Tanzanian Shilling (TZS)

Climate

The climate of Tanzania varies quite a bit, considering that its environment includes both the highest and the lowest points on the continent. While the narrow lowland coastal region is consistently hot and humid, the central regions of Tanzania are sufficiently elevated so as to offer much cooler temperatures. The rainy seasons extend from November to early January and from March to May.