Dear everyone!

We are only 5 weeks, 1 day, 2 hours (and some change) away from our celebration in Zanzibar!

Here are a few more organizational things:

1) Would you please confirm the flights you are arriving and leaving with? Either reply to us with your itinerary, or make a comment directly on this document: Link to our Google doc with flight info

2) Visa Upon arrival in Tanzania:
Each one of you will need to pay 50USD in cash (no credit cards) for the visa. The procedure is like this:
– try to get out of the plane quickly or overtake a few people so you can fill the arrival forms first and submit your passport sooner than other passengers
– you can only join the queue for the immigration officers (the guys sitting at the wooden bar) once you have filled in the arrival form. However, if the queue is already more than 5 persons long, one of you can stand in the queue, while the other fills the forms. Data you need for the form: PEROSNAL DATA (date of birth, profession, nationality, etc). PASSPORT DATA (number, issue date, expiration date) TANZANIA DATA (where are you staying > just say Sharazade Hotel, in Jambiani, Zanzibar and tell them you are taking the ferry the next day. If they ask you where you will be staying in Dar es Salaam, you can say Wistas Inn, in Sinza, Dar es Salaam). Our telephone numbers are Nathalie: +255 764 660 130 and Eric: + 255 744 359 477 (you can replace the +255 with a 0 when dialing locally).
– when you speak to the immigration officer, he will take your picture and your fingerprints, (and sometimes already your passport)
– proceed with your passport to the fee payment window located behind the immigration officers, and pay the 50USD visa fee (cash only!)
– after this, just move aside and wait until your passport comes back. Before proceeding, check the visa is in it
– now, you can proceed directly to baggage claim (ignore the booths where the east-africa citizens are queuing to do their immigration, just walk out to the conveyor belt)
– get your luggage, walk out and meet either us or your driver.
* The process above is the one we go through every time we Arrive in Dar, I suppose it’s very similar in Zanzibar airport for those of you who fly into ZAN.

3) For those who intend to do the Safari (Leila, Dimi, Yann, Maryse, Karin, Elmar):
– the group is now 6 persons (Gael has dropped out). In order to take the 5-6 hour bus ride from Dar es Salaam to Angalia Camp on Wednesday 22nd of November, you will need to get from Zanzibar to Dar es Salaam by plane in the morning. Has anybody bought their flight yet? If not, it’s a good idea to coordinate Elmar and Dimy so you can fly on the same flight. If you want to do your own research, the info about the airlines is on this link. My research (done 10 minutes ago) shows the following flights with availability for 5 adults and one 11-year-old. I think the better options for the 30 minute flight are:
Precision Air has flights at 10:20 (good) and 12:10 (a bit late) for 77USD/per person
Coastal Aviation has flights at 08:00, 08:15, 09:30A, 09:30B, 10:30 (all good), at 11:30 (a bit late) and 13:00 (too late ) for about 85USD/per person
Zan Air has flights at 07:30 (good), 11:00 (a bit late), and 13:00 (too late) for abour 80 USD/per person
Auric Air has flights at 08:00 (good), 11:00 (a bit late), and 12:35 (too late) for abour 73 USD/per person
There still is planety of options, but in your place I would not leave this until the last minute.

If you have any questions, suggestions, requests or anything, please don’t hesitate to write to us.

Best,
Eric + Nathalie