The Tanzania Tourist Board announced the Slogan For Destination Tanzania Competition

The competition seeks to find the next short and exciting phrase that will define Tanzania as a unique destination. 

The competition deadline is on 05th of June and the winner can expect to be gifted a safari to Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro and the Serengeti, courtesy of the Tanzania Tourist Board and their partners. Notably, and as a strong sign how the new media and in particular social networks have made inroads into destination marketing, will the contributions have to be entered on the TTB facebook pages via www.facebook.com/TanzaniaTouristBoard where one can also vote for eye catching phrases, though the final decision will rest with a panel of judges put in place by TTB. Alternatively go to the TTB website and get the details of the competition, terms and conditions or participation and other related information via www.tanzaniatouristboard.com/ttbslogan/

Air Tanzania gets a B737-500 to restart operations

Sources in Dar es salaam confirmed that Air Tanzania Company Limited is expecting to get the 108-seat Boeing 737-500 leased by from Aero Vista Dubai.

 With the crashed Bombardier a Dash8-300 turboprop, was seriously damaged in a mishap at Kigoma Airport.

The new jet will however only be able to fly to such destinations like Kilimanjaro, Dodoma, Mwanza or Zanzibar, as most other airports and aerodromes are only able to cater for the landing of smaller turboprop aircraft, a fact now used by competitor Precision Air which is serving domestic destinations with their ATR fleet.

Apart from the delay mention on the citizen newspaper, ATCL acting managing director Paul Chizi confirmed that the aircraft did not arrive as promised and declined to offer any details, saying he would be in a better position to explain what happened today. He also refused to disclose when the aircraft would arrive.

 The Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority, whose experts went to Cairo to inspect the plane, said the aircraft had been cleared and a landing permit was issued yesterday evening.
“We have inspected the aircraft and granted ATCL a landing permit this evening (yesterday), but we cannot tell precisely when it will arrive in the country. You may wish to crosscheck with the airline management,” said Mr Manongi.

ATCL said on Wednesday that experts from Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority had completed inspection of the plane in Cairo and the aircraft was expected to be flown to the country yesterday, but it did not arrive.

Aviation experts said that Q400 is efficient especially in Tanzania where most airports are unpaved.“For me this plane fits most of our airports because it has a large clearance which enables it to land on unpaved airstrips,” said Tanzania Air Services Limited director Abdukadir Mohamed.

Tanzania’s new tourism minister sets out his agenda

NEW TOURISM MINISTER VOWS TO MAKE CHANGES
Appointed only last week, when his predecessor Ezekiel Maige was unceremoniously sacked alongside 5 other cabinet ministers, did the new man at the helm of the ministry for natural resources and tourism Khamis Kagesheki make his first major announcement yesterday in Dar es Salaam. Poaching, illegal timber cutting and trade and unsustainable use of natural resources will be high on his agenda it appears from reports received. There are many complaints on poaching, allocation of hunting blocks and illegal trading of timber. We are going to focus on those problems the new minister was quoted in having said, a first indicator that he understands what led to the downfall of Maige and how to avoid falling into the same traps by tackling the right issues.
There is speculation in Dar es Salaams tourism and conservation circles that senior staff at ministry level and subordinate bodies under the ministry may also face the axe to allow the minister a fresh start all round with new faces not associated with past scandals over illegal logging and allegedly illegal exports of wildlife. Said a regular source from Arusha when discussing the issue: Maige talked too much and talked too much rubbish. Of course no one tells a sitting minister in his face but those were wide sentiments. He lost grip on illegal logging, illegal wildlife trade which uses Tanzania as a conduit and for sure he failed to make use of the Presidents support to crack down hard on poaching. The President even offered troops but Maige and TANAPA, what were they doing. In fact, TANAPA went on rampage last year by blackmailing tour operators when they had an issue with lodges and tented camps. They held our drivers and tourists hostage. It is such issues the new minister needs to look into. Expanding Tanga Marine National Park inland is another issue he should look at. The whole question of that damned road through the Serengeti, the railway routings, mining in the Selous, the planned power plant at Stieglers Gorge, the Lake Natron soda ash plant, there are so many issues which you keep writing about. TTB needs to shape up in promotion to match our neighbours and popularize Tanzania and our islands. I have talked with colleagues and we are ready to give the new man some time to settle down but there are hard decisions waiting for him..
Similar statements are also expected from the new transport minister in particular about the future of the countrys dilapidated railway system, of which several routes could become instant tourist attractions besides once again providing Tanzanians with safe and affordable means of transport. One of the most controversial issues, the future of Air Tanzania, which has left the government in the lurch over guarantees given to them in the past for transactions, now estimated to cost the country up to 200 million US Dollars to settle is also on the new transport ministers agenda and he will be well advised to make peace with parliament which had unearthed the scandals by taking harsh and literally instant action against those implicated in the alleged fraud. Watch this space.

Source:  http://wolfganghthome.wordpress.com/2012/05/09/tanzanias-new-tourism-minister-sets-out-his-agenda/

HOW CAN YOU SAVE SERENGETI?

Tanzania government has a plan to construct the highway through the Serengeti migration area.The Serengeti is the best known, most treasured ecosystem in the world. Its great migration must be forever protected for the benefit of future generations of Tanzanians and visitors from around the world. 

The campaign to stop the Serengeti highway has made it clear - the Serengeti can survive only if the world helps it survive. The Serengeti needs a permanent broad-based coalition of support into the future.

 

You as an individual, a tour operator, or an NGO can support the Serengeti  Campaign  by;

• Joining other supporters of the Serengeti Watch and receive updates and alerts. This is the only non-profit focused specifically on the Serengeti ecosystem.

• Support Serengeti conservation with a donation.

• Get involved as  Friends of Serengeti brings together travel companies and their travellers to build a permanent structure of support, advocacy, and funding for the Serengeti ecosystem.

Learn more about Serengeti Watch here

Join the Serengeti Watch here

Learn more about Friends of Serengeti here

 

WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO CLIMB MOUNT KILIMANJARO?

ANSWER:

The best months to climb Mount Kilimanjaro are considered to be from August to October and from January to March.

Do you know, almost a half of the population in Tanzania is under 15?

Tanzania is probably one of the oldest known inhabited areas on Earth; fossil remains of humans and pre-human hominids have been found dating back over two million years.

See this in Wikipedia

Basic Safety Rules for Travelers to Tanzania

Tanzanians are well known for their friendly, laid-back attitude. In most cases you will be humbled by their hospitality despite the fact that most people are a lot poorer than you. As you travel in the touristy areas, you will probably attract your fair share of souvenir hawkers and beggars. Remember that these are poor people who are trying to earn money to feed their families. If you aren't interested then say so, but try and remain polite.

• Make a copy of your passport and keep it in your luggage.
• Don't walk on your own at night in the major cities or on empty beaches especially in Pemba and Zanzibar.
• Don't wear jewelry.
• Don't carry too much cash with you.
• Wear a money belt that fits under your clothes.
• Don't carry a lot of camera equipment especially in the major cities.
• Beware of thieves posing as police officers.

Highway Across the Serengeti Video

Jeffrey Gettleman examines a planned road that would bisect Tanzania's Serengeti National Park. Environmentalists claim it will disrupt the Great Migration while others say its an economic imperative.   

DO YOU KNOW? The Prince of Wales becomes 'he whom the cows love'

Prince Charles, Prince of Wales is presented with a traditional Masai stick during his visit

When he visited Tanzania in a dusty ceremony in a Masai village in the shadow of Kilimanjaro on Wednesday November 2nd, the prince was bestowed a new honour by a tribe for whom nothing is more important than cattle.
Now the heir to the British throne is also to be known as Oloishiru Ingishu, or "he whom the cows love so much they call for him when they are in times of distress".
With the title, given by Mathayo Rimba Olemirai, the senior elder at the village of Majengo, came a three-legged "olorika" stool fashioned from baobab wood and a bead-wrapped knobkerrie called a rungu, handed only to revered elders.
The ceremonies took place on the final day of the Prince's tour of Tanzania, accompanied by his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, as the couple visited the country's far north, close to its border with Kenya.
Chiefs' wives also honoured the Duchess with the name Ngoto o Engera, or "Mother of the Children" and gave her three wide, flat necklaces intricately inlaid with thousands of white, yellow, green and red beads.


"These are things we give to very important visitors, and they are used at times of ceremonies including weddings and the circumcisions of our warriors," said Mr Rimba, who guessed his age at 60 and who has 45 children by three wives.
The Masai traditionally believe that their gods bequeathed to them ownership of every cow in the world. Part of every warrior's initiation rites is to be told he has the sacred right to claim back any cattle in the possession of anyone else.
Mr Rimba said, however, that now that the Prince was "our friend", his 800-strong head of cattle, at Highgrove and at Home Farm in Gloucestershire, were safe.
"We cannot steal from him, he is our friend. We will take back cows from any other person though," he said.
Other Masai men watching as the Royal couple sat through a 50 minute talk with tribe elders were surprised to hear that the future King of England had such a modest herd.
"That is only a very average amount," said Thomas Lemboko, 48, who lives near Majengo, his eyebrows shooting up in surprise.
"There are men here who have two times that many here. Really we are richer than him. That shows us we have ways to help ourselves even without help from foreigners."
As the Royal couple prepared to leave, dust rose from the open savannah as hundreds of tribesmen wrapped in the red robe of the Masai performed a warrior's "singolio" dance, jumping high in the air and stamping their feet as they landed.
Their wives and daughters sang nearby, and elders flicked flywhisks made of wildebeest manes to keep insects away.
The Prince and the Duchess were visiting Majengo to see British-funded work helping Masai girls continue from primary to secondary school, and other projects advising on fresh ways to earn money for the Masai, whose nomadic way of life is threatened by climate change and increased commercial farming on their ancestral pasturelands.
"I very much look forward to hearing about how the government responds to your concerns and these challenges," the Prince told the village chiefs.
"I think I realise, probably more than many, after 30 years or so of trying to draw people's attention to the challenges and problems that so many communities will face and are facing due to climate change.
"I'm enormously grateful for the club you have given me – the stool may have to wait a little bit – but the club will enable me to wage an even fiercer battle against the issues of climate change."
The couple then visited a school near the town of Arusha and then did a final safari in a game park before their ten-day African tour ends. 
Source: Telegraph

Big announcement For the Serengeti Supporters

In a letter to the UN World Heritage Centre. the government of Tanzania has declared its intentions not to construct a commercial route across the Serengeti National Park.

Read the letter here