Getting around Tanzania

Distances are the first thing to plan around. Most visitors cover them in one of three ways: a safari vehicle with a driver on the northern circuit, domestic flights for the long jumps, and the fast ferry to Zanzibar. The new SGR railway has changed one route completely, Dar es Salaam to Morogoro and Dodoma. Everything else is still mostly by bus.

The table gives the usual choice for the journeys people ask about most. The sections below explain each way of travelling.

The Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) is Tanzania's new electric railway. Passenger trains started between Dar es Salaam and Morogoro on 14 June 2024, and through to Dodoma on 25 July 2024. The line is built for passenger trains at up to 160 km/h. On the Dar–Morogoro section the stations are Dar es Salaam, Pugu, Soga, Ruvu, Ngerengere and Morogoro. Beyond Morogoro the line continues through Kilosa to Dodoma.

Three kinds of train. The timetable TRC published for 3 January 2026 has express trains, ordinary trains that stop more often, and newer EMU electric multiple-unit trains, known as Mchongoko. The express leaves Dar at 06:00 and reaches Dodoma at 09:42. The EMU leaves at 08:00 and arrives at 11:15. Ordinary trains take a little over four hours. There are also local trains between Dar and Morogoro only, just under 2 hours. In June 2026 TRC added an extra Friday evening EMU from Dodoma because of weekend demand.

Fares. Fares are set by LATRA, the land transport regulator. When the service opened in 2024 it set TSh 31,000 for an adult from Dar es Salaam to Dodoma and TSh 15,500 for a child, calculated at TSh 69.51 per kilometre. Children aged 4 to 12 pay half, and children under 4 travel free. The EMU trains have business and royal classes, which TanzaniaInvest reported at TSh 120,000 to 150,000 when they started in November 2024.

Tickets. Buy them ahead through TRC's online SGR ticketing system (sgrticket.trc.co.tz). TRC itself asks passengers to do this, especially for Fridays and weekends.

Further west. The line is being extended from Makutupora to Tabora, from Tabora to Isaka, from Isaka to Mwanza, and from Tabora to Kigoma. In May 2025 TRC's director general gave the Mwanza section as 63 per cent complete and the others as between about 7 and 15 per cent. None of these sections carries passengers yet, and no opening date has been confirmed.

Before the SGR, the railway west was the metre-gauge Central Line, built by the Germans. It runs from Dar es Salaam through Dodoma to Tabora, and from there to Kigoma on Lake Tanganyika, with a branch north to Mwanza on Lake Victoria and one south-west to Mpanda. See Tabora, the junction.

TRC still runs a few passenger trains a week on it, and sells tickets through its e-ticketing site (eticketing.trc.co.tz). They are slow: the timetable has long given about 40 hours from Dar es Salaam to Kigoma. They are for travellers with time who want to see the country, not for anyone in a hurry.

The TAZARA railway, also called the Uhuru (freedom) railway, runs 1,860 km from Dar es Salaam to Kapiri Mposhi in Zambia. China, Tanzania and Zambia built it between 1970 and 1975, so that Zambia's copper could reach the sea without crossing the white-ruled states to the south. It has its own station in Dar es Salaam, separate from the other lines.

The line crosses the north of Nyerere National Park, where passengers often see giraffe, elephant and zebra from the train. It then runs up the Kilombero valley past Udzungwa, through the mountains to Makambako, and on to Mbeya and the Zambian border at Tunduma. The track reaches its highest point, about 1,790 m, at Uyole near Mbeya.

The service now. Cross-border trains stopped in June 2024 and started again on 10 February 2026, once a week. The Mukuba train leaves Dar es Salaam on Fridays at 15:50 and New Kapiri Mposhi on Tuesdays at 14:00. It runs as an express between Msolwa and Nakonde and stops at every station on the other sections. TAZARA said it had cut the number of trains because its engines and coaches are old and short in number. A local service, the Udzungwa, runs twice a week between Kidatu and Makambako.

Fares and tickets. The rail travel site Seat61 lists Dar es Salaam to Kapiri Mposhi at TSh 110,200 in a first-class sleeper (four berths, men and women in separate compartments), TSh 89,700 in a second-class sleeper and TSh 77,600 in a third-class seat. It says you ask TAZARA for a ticket by message, then collect it and pay at the station the day before you travel.

The railway is being rebuilt. In 2024 China and the two governments agreed a plan to modernise it, and in March 2025 The Citizen reported a USD 1.4 billion investment by the Chinese company CCECC.

For the long distances, flying is how most visitors travel. The main airports are Julius Nyerere International in Dar es Salaam, Kilimanjaro International between Arusha and Moshi, Abeid Amani Karume International on Zanzibar, and airports at Arusha, Mwanza, Dodoma, Songwe (for Mbeya), Kigoma and other regional towns. The safari parks are served by airstrips that small planes fly into; the park pages say which.

Airlines. Air Tanzania is the state airline. Precision Air is the main private one. Smaller companies, among them Auric Air, Coastal Aviation and Flightlink, fly smaller planes to the regional towns, the islands and the park airstrips, often on circuits with several stops.

Luggage on small planes. Light aircraft have strict weight limits, and many ask for soft bags that can be squeezed into a small hold. Check the limit with the airline before you pack. It is usually lower than on an international flight.

The European Union's ban. Since June 2025 the EU's Air Safety List has banned every airline certified in Tanzania from flying in EU airspace, including Air Tanzania, Precision Air and the safari airlines. The list of 9 June 2026 still includes them. The ban is based on the EU's assessment of Tanzania's aviation regulator, and it covers flights into Europe only. It does not stop these airlines flying inside Tanzania, but some travellers and employers take it into account when choosing flights.

Dar es Salaam to Zanzibar. The main service is Azam Marine's fast ferries, the Kilimanjaro boats, which make several crossings a day between the Dar es Salaam ferry terminal and Stone Town in about 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours. Azam also sails to Pemba and Tanga. Visitors pay in US dollars. Booking guides in 2026 gave non-resident fares of USD 35 in economy, USD 40 in business, USD 60 in VIP and USD 100 in royal class. Book on Azam's own website or at its ticket office, not through touts at the port.

Zanzibar is part of Tanzania, but it has one extra cost for visitors: its compulsory inbound travel insurance. See the visa page.

Lake Victoria. Ships run from Mwanza to Bukoba and to Ukerewe island. The newest, the MV New Mwanza, was launched on 23 January 2026. It carries 1,200 passengers and makes Mwanza–Bukoba in six to seven hours, against eight to ten on the older ships. For Rubondo Island, see its park page.

Lake Tanganyika. The MV Liemba, built in Germany in 1913 and believed to have inspired the German gunboat in The African Queen, was out of service from 2018 for a TSh 34 billion refit and sailed again on 6 October 2026, leaving Kigoma for Kalemie in the DR Congo. Her traditional route runs down the lake to Mpulungu in Zambia, calling at the lakeside villages on the way, which also makes her a way to reach Mahale; check the current timetable in Kigoma before planning around it.

Most Tanzanians travel between cities by bus, and there are buses between every pair of towns that matter. They are cheap and frequent. The long routes are long: a full day or more.

Night buses are allowed again. For years buses were not allowed to drive at night. Since late 2023 the government has let licensed buses run 24 hours a day, and LATRA had licensed 246 buses for it by the time The Citizen reported it. Buses are tracked by GPS, and LATRA has taken buses off night routes for speeding.

Electronic tickets. Since 14 July 2025 LATRA has required every bus to issue electronic tickets, with the passenger's name on the ticket and on the passenger list. Buy from the bus company's office or its online booking, and make sure your ticket is a proper printed or electronic one.

Dala-dalas are the minibuses (and, in Dar es Salaam, larger buses) that carry most people around the towns. The route is painted on the front or written in the windscreen. They are very cheap, crowded and stop anywhere.

Dar es Salaam's rapid bus. Dar es Salaam has a bus rapid transit system, locally called mwendokasi, with buses in their own lanes. The first line opened on 10 May 2016 and runs about 21 km from Kimara through Ubungo to the city centre, with 29 stations. A second line, along Kilwa Road to Mbagala, began carrying passengers in 2025.

Bajaji and boda-boda. A bajaji is a three-wheeled motor rickshaw, and a boda-boda a motorbike taxi. Both are everywhere and get through traffic that stops cars. Agree the fare before you get in. On a boda-boda, insist on a helmet: accidents are common.

Ride-hailing. Bolt is the main app in the big cities. Uber left Tanzania on 30 January 2026 after years of disputes with LATRA, which caps both fares and the companies' commission. Guidebooks and websites written before 2026 still mention Uber.

Tanzania drives on the left. The main roads between cities are paved, but many roads to parks and villages are not, and in the rains some become impassable without four-wheel drive. Driving at night is best avoided: people, animals and unlit vehicles are on the roads after dark.

Licences. Bring your national licence and an International Driving Permit. Anyone who lives in Tanzania for more than six months needs a Tanzanian licence. Zanzibar has its own permit for visitors who drive there, which rental companies arrange.

Police checks on the main roads are normal. Keep your licence and the vehicle's papers to hand.

In practice, most visitors on safari do not drive themselves. They hire a vehicle with a driver-guide, who knows the roads and the parks. For park-by-park directions, see each park's Getting in section.