Visa Question
I tried getting through to Tauck and their call wait time is over 60 minutes and their call back system is temporarily down. Hoping you all can help. We are flying into Arusha. Is a multiple entry Visa required in Kenya? Getting conflicting information. Trip is In June.
Thank you!!
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It depends whether you are flying through Kenya on your way there, Nairobi, if not you don’t need a multi visa
I think British meant to type "It depends whether you are flying through Nairobi, Kenya on your way there, if not you don’t need a multi visa.
I think it also depends on your connection in Nairobi- if you don't leave the air-side in Nairobi Airport when connecting, you will not be considered as entering Kenya. And, as mentioned in another thread some time ago, you are flying into Kilimanjaro (JRO) which is the name of the international airport, far to the east of Arusha, that handles big jets. If you are indeed flying into Arusha's small municipal airport, you need to make sure Tauck will provide a transfer. I have never heard of anyone flying into Arusha at the start of the tour, just on tour when returning from the Serengeti.
We are flying into the domestic airport in Arusha via Dar Dar Es Salaam. Craziest air routing. Our original flight was cancelled and TA, Pavus, arranged this as a replacement. They swear Tauck provides a transfer. So, single entry??
Where before Dar? If it is not anywhere in Kenya or if it is and you don't leave the airside of the airport to catch a connecting regional/domestic flight, then you will enter Kenya only once on tour at the land border north of Arusha, so you only need a single entry visa.
The Tauck webpages for your tour say, "PLEASE NOTE: Guests who choose to alter their air arrangements to fly round trip via Nairobi may be required to obtain a multiple-entry visa, rather than the single-entry Kenyan visa required for our program."
There are no customs and immigration services at Arusha Muni, so you will need to go through Tanzania entry formalities at Dar. Hopefully, Pavlus, who does a lot of Tauck business, knows what they are doing. It sure sounds crazy, though.
If you haven't read all the online info in the "Important Information For Your Journey" section of the website, you should do that. Don't rely 100% on Pavlus to provide all the info. Folks have been bitten before by this.
For instance, the online Itinerary says, "A transfer from Kilimanjaro International Airport to Gran Meliá Arusha is included" but nothing about the domestic airport, but that doesn't mean they won't pick you up at there. I believe your specific departure stays in the Gran Meliá Arusha on the northeast side of and closer to town than the Serena the prior years hotel, so a transfer from the Muni is actually shorter (23 min.) than it would be if you were transferring from Kilimanjaro to the Serena (54 min.) or to the Gran Meliá (65 min.) under the best of traffic.
Even though you booked thru Pavlus, you should still be able to log into your online Tauck account and see what it shows for arrival information. If you haven't registered, do it now to see what it says in your account.
The Tauck website also says, "AIRFARE: Airfare to and from this destination is not included in the journey cost. If purchasing your air elsewhere, it is very important to provide us with your confirmed arriving and departing flight information no later than 3 weeks before your arrival date. Flight information can be submitted to Tauck (or verified, if you've already provided it) in the My Account section of Tauck.com." Pavlus should have done this, but I would check Tauck's website to make sure.
PamW, if Pavlus is your TA, you should get them to call Tauck for you! Actually, as a TA, they should be able to tell you that info
Frankly, flying you into Dar Es Salem is bizarre! When we took the Tanzania Zanzibar tour, we flew home from Dar which is where the tour ended. It is a big confusing airport where you have to go through multiple security lines.
.The business class lounge is where we saw cockroaches in the food display.
I do agree with everything. Alan adds. I think someone else wrote about being given your route, I don’t think it was Tauck. Where are you flying from in the US? When were your flights canceled? If it was a while ago, I’m sure more flights will have opened up.
There have been multiple discussion about whether he to use Tauck directly or not instead of another TA, and this is why it is best to book with Tauck
I’ve just been looking at the availability of dates for the tour this year, and most are wide open which never happened pre Covid, the tours always were booked months in advance. If this is a reflection of travel to Tanzania in general, then I can understand why flights are being canceled. June is also just at the end of the usual long rains. We were last there in December/January 2019 for the K and T Rwanda tour and the short rains were still going on, leaving roads flooded and we had to make detours because of ther, we drove over some bridges with water flowing over them. We did get some great photos of elephants frolicking in the rainfall, one elephant slipped and went skidding along the grass. We saw, a soggy male lion and a mom cheetah and six cubs totally drenched. Our safari walk was also in very muddy terrain.it was interesting to see this area in the rains compared to our other two trips there.
This is from the Tauck website
In addition to a valid passport, and as noted in your Journey Confirmation e-document you received confirming your reservation, U.S. citizens are also required to have visas to enter Kenya and Tanzania. (Minors aged 16 and under do not need a visa to travel to Kenya for tourism.) Evisas are now an option for Kenya and Tanzania, for Kenya visit https://immigration.ecitizen.go.ke and for Tanzania visit https://eservices.immigration.go.tz/visa Please note that these visas must be processed within 90 days of your arrival. Your Journey Confirmation also indicated various options on how to obtain your visas. To review (and if you are currently within the parameters of the timeframe noted above), you may elect to work with VisaCentral (a visa-assistance provider) to obtain your visas, with another visa-assistance provider of your choosing, or by working directly with the Kenyan and Tanzanian Embassies or Consulates. (If you opt to work with VisaCentral, their services are available online, click here for more information.)
PLEASE NOTE: Guests who choose to alter their air arrangements to fly round trip via Nairobi may be required to obtain a multiple-entry visa, rather than the single-entry Kenyan visa required for our program
British, I want to thank you so much. Yes, our flights were cancelled and we were told at the time this routing was the only one available. We had already paid for business class, and took what we could get. I am quite upset about it, but not sure what our recourse is.
I have read through all of the info and Tauck does have our flight info and our records indicate a pickup. Pavlus swore Tauck would pick us up at the municipal airport. Thanks for the tip about customs.
Wish us luck.
And thank you for the amazing info.
We just signed up for a fundraiser dinner for the hospital/clinic we support near Arusha. It’s in May, so I’ll be sure to get some accurate insider knowledge on what’s going on in Tanzania since Covid. I’ll be sure to post anything useful