Covid and East Africa
just saw US State Dept rates Tanzania a level 4 "Do Not Travel". Is Tauck really still going forward with safaris here?
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just saw US State Dept rates Tanzania a level 4 "Do Not Travel". Is Tauck really still going forward with safaris here?
Comments
Great Britian has also reinstated more COVID restrictions for US travelers
Bruce, this is not a new level for Tanzania. The STEP notifications mainly tell us not to travel to other countries, I get them all the time. Please remembered you can always cancel your tour. If you are vaccinated and wearing a mask as Tauck says the tour group must do, you are virtually at zero risk of contracting Covid. However,Tauck has said that if someone tests positive on the tour, they will have to abide to the rules of the country about how things are dealt with. They also say it will depend on each individual’s insurance as to how they might pay for local quarantine or Covid treatment.
I’m still wondering if they will consolidate some tours as more and more people cancel. I have already asked at what point they would do this, how many people need to be on a tour before they decide it is not viable, they assured me back then that they would take quite a small group and yet I once had a tour cancelled for lack of numbers of people on the tour and had to join another date.
What is more dreadful, are the numbers of Tanzanian people who are literally starving because they are getting no income because of the devastation of tourists not visiting. I was on a zoom with people in Tanzania recently and have heard first hand.
As British can verify, the contact with ‘locals’ on K&T is minimal. You have contact with your tour group, the TD, the drivers, a few waiters, and mostly the bar tenders. If they covid test and/or vaccinate the bar tenders everyone should be safe.
For our K&T trip we were taken to a Masai village, walked through the huts, danced with, and walked through their market. We also had a dance ceremony at the Mt Kenya Safari Club. Another interaction was when we visited a children’s school and a local academy for women where they did various crafts. These interactions were in Kenya, but I just wanted to point out there are local interactions. In Tanzania the interactions were fewer but still existed, like at the Arusha Cultural Center. Perhaps Tauck will eliminate all of these interactions except where they know it is a controlled environment.
You are correct Sam, we are in contact with far more people than we realize, which of course is why Covid became global so quickly. Add to your list, the people in the Arusha and Nairobi airports….no not those flying, everyone else, the drivers who might collect you from the airport, not always our safari drivers. A gospital of you fall ill or have an accident before you can be relocated. The list can go on and on.
Few people in Tanzania are vaccinated. I assume the bar tenders reference is a joke. I have been reading that the new President of Tanzania has not been as proactive about Covid as it was first thought she would be.
Visiting the Masai and interacting with locals is an important part of the Africa experience for us. I would be sorry to have these parts eliminated
Sealord, I’m surprised you haven’t tried other tour companies who can give you a totally custom experience safari, I know your favorite part is just he safaris and the bars 🤪. You could eliminate the other things, possibly eliminate so much of the moving from camp to camp and stay in a super luxurious location or two for a couple of weeks.