Tanzania News

Tanzania news, views and interesting items brought to you by TaZnews.

This issue: February 2008- Archive -5

Yellow fever vaccinations for travelers entering Tanzania
Oldonyo L'Engai - Tanzania's volcano active again
Bush initiative to distribute bed nets in Tanzania
Mt Meru snow cap surprise
Researchers reveal the 'make-up' of Tanzania tourists

Yellow Fever Vaccination for travelers entering Tanzania

There remains some vagueness over the requirement of Yellow fever vaccinations for entry into Tanzania. The Tanzanian Association of Tour Operators is currently trying to clarify the position. At this time the following information is available. We advise tourist to check with their in-country Tanzania Embassy or High Commission before travel.

1. For all travelers coming directly from Europe to Kilimanjaro and Dar es Salaam (Julius Nyerere) airports on direct flights that did not transit through an endemic country they will not need Yellow Fever Vaccination.

2. For all travelers coming from Europe via or transiting through an endemic country, e.g. via Nairobi or Addis Ababa, a Yellow Fever Vaccination supported by documentation will be required. This also applies to passengers in transit in airports where there is a risk of yellow fever transmission, e.g. clients arriving on an international flight in Nairobi or Addis Ababa and connecting with a regional flight within the airport to Kilimanjaro or Dar es Salaam.

Yellow fever vaccination is provided at Kilimanjaro and Dar es Salaam airports at a cost of USD 50 per passenger for passengers who should have yellow fever vaccination certificate but have none on arrival in Tanzania

On arrival, international & regional passengers must first go to the health desk then to the Immigration desk; no passport will be accepted at immigration desk without a stamp from Health Desk.

The WHO recommend yellow fever vaccination for self protection against the risk of exposure to the disease, even though it is not mandatory.

Source: TATO

Oldonyo L'Engai - Tanzania's volcano active again

On 7th November the effects of an eruption sent a billowing smoke plume over 3km into the sky and sent the local population fleeing for safety. Since November the 'mountain of god' has remained active - explosions and ash plumes were observed from the 17th to 21st January and on 15th February Dutch pilots photographed an eruption rising over 11km high.

Source: volcanodiscovery.com

Bush initiative to distribute bed nets in Tanzania

President Bush's Malaria Initiative PMI in Africa was launched in June 2005 with positive results being reported in Tanzania.

In Zanzibar the percentage of infants infected with malaria is reported to have dropped from about 20 per cent to less than 1 percent as a result of the initiative.

He and first lady Laura Bush visited Meru District Hospital (near to Arusha in northern Tanzania) this February on their last full day in Tanzania to see first-hand how the initiative is saving lives. The hospital is a 120-bed facility which functions as a major malaria treatment center handling some 1300 cases monthly.

Bush explained how American schoolchildren have raised money to pay for bed nets in Africa, and many faith-based organizations have sent their people to Africa to fight the mosquito-borne illness, according to Bush.

Bush called the bed nets the simplest way to prevent malaria. He noted that the bed net program will not only save lives by protecting people while they sleep from malaria-carrying mosquitoes, but will help support the local economy because the bed nets will be produced at a local plant.

The program is sponsored by the United States and Tanzania in partnership with the World Bank and Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Source: America.gov

Mt Meru snow cap surprise

On February 6th, Tanzania's second highest mountain - Mt meru, was sporting a snow cap for the first time since the late sixties. Foreign visitors reached for their cameras and locals were observed to gaze transfixed at the unusual phenomenon.

For years the summit of Mt Meru has remained a dark craggy feature surrounded by forest but despite being a cold atmosphere, no snow has been seen.

The snow cap is thought to be the result of a heavy downpour on the evening of Tuesday February 5.

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The new snowcap on Mt. Meru comes at the time when scientists and researchers round the world predict total disappearance of glacier on top of Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak, by the year 2020 due to global warming.

Mount Meru, a dormant volcano, is located just a stone throw (75 kilometers west) from the legendary Mount Kilimanjaro. Meru reaches 4,566 meters (14,980 feet) in height but has lost much of its bulk due to an eastward volcanic blast which reportedly occurred about 8,000 years ago, similar to the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington.

According to geological experts here, Mount Meru had a minor eruption about a century ago.

Mt. Meru is a strato-volcano feature whose history has been quite explosive. It has had four eruptions, the last of which occurred in 1910. Lava erupted from Meru varies from thin flows to thick intrusive domes. The several small cones and craters seen in the vicinity probably reflect numerous episodes of other volcanic activities in the past.

The main cone of the volcano has a caldera which is 2.2 miles (3.5 km) in diameter. It has a huge breach on its eastern side.

A fissure runs down the side of the volcano from this breach. Many debris flows came through the breach in the caldera. These cover 1500 sq km to the northeast, east and southeast. Following the eruption of this debris, a lava dome and ash cone grew on the floor of the caldera.

Both Mt. Meru and the forests below it spawn the Arusha National Park, home to variety of wildlife.

Source: Arusha Times

Researchers reveal the make-up of Tanzania tourists

Kenyans account for the highest number of Tanzania bound tourists per year, followed by the United Kingdom with the United States taking the third position, a recently released report by the ‘Tourism Market Research Study for Tanzania’ has revealed.

According to the report about 20 percent of all visitors coming to Tanzania for leisure hail from Kenya, while the UK accounts for 11 percent and about 9 percent of Tanzanian bound tourists come from the United States. Italy follows in the fourth position by bringing in about 8 percent of all tourists while Uganda is fifth with 5.5 percent. Others in the top ten include Zambia (bringing 4.8 percent) South Africa (4.5 percent) Germany (3 percent) and Malawi (2.7 percent). All these account for 70.5 percent of total tourists between them while the remaining countries share the other 29.5 percent.

The latest tourists traffic figures recorded in 2006 indicate that Tanzania received 127,016 Kenyan tourists; the country also reported 69,160 visitors from United Kingdom, 55,687 tourists from the United States of America and 50,287 others from Italy.

During that year, Tanzania received a total 644,124 tourists, in 2005 the country handled 612,754 tourists and a year earlier 582,807 visitors. At the turn of the new Millennium in 2000 Tanzania got a total of 501,669 tourists. The annual growth rate is projected at about 8 percent.

At that rate Tanzania was expecting to have 747,184 tourists by the end of 2008 however the ongoing Kenya conflicts may affect the projected figure.

The tourism statistics for Tanzania show that 81 percent of all arrivals are for leisure, with just 11 percent coming for business and 8 percent for “other purposes”. Researchers find this rather surprising since Kenya is only next door which means visitors from the country were expected to be more business inclined or visiting relatives

As for the United Kingdom, the report points out that the availability of direct flights from UK to Tanzania is a major contributor, it states that the tourists’ traffic from America could also be increased with introduction of such direct flight services which at the moment are non-existent.

Tourism stakeholders countrywide are expressing the other concern regarding "Why independent travelers usually do not want to visit Tanzania?" a fact which makes the country to be heavily dependent on the packaged visitors and pre-booked tourists, mostly animal gazers, heading for the Northern Zone circuit.

Source: Arusha Times