How to get to Dodoma

Modern Tanzania as we know it since its independence, was initially ruled from Dar es Salaam for over three decades (this multi-million coastal city was the capital for 32 years). Since 1996, Dodoma is considered the official capital of the republic. Although in many ways this is only a nominal function – most government offices, the offices of banks and major national companies, and all embassies still remain in Dar es Salaam.

Perhaps the most famous example in the world of a capital that was assigned this role “artificially” is Canberra in Australia. And many people are still convinced that Sydney is the capital of that country. Visitors to Tanzania are also often surprised to learn that Dar es Salaam is not the capital of Tanzania and it is in fact Dodoma. These two capitals, Tanzanian and Australian, have comparable populations, although the latter has had half a century more to establish itself.

If we compare Tanzania’s Dodoma with the capitals of nearby African countries, examples of similar development are the capital of neighboring Malawi – Lilongwe, the capital of Nigeria – Abuja, the Mauritanian capital of Nouakchott, and Gaborone – the capital of Botswana. All these countries also gained independence in the 1960s, and the transfer of the capital marked the beginning of a new period in the life of their people. In Tanzania, the process dragged on for decades, and continues to this day, although the idea was exactly the same as that of its neighbors. What went wrong and why? We will touch on it a little later, but now let’s learn a few things about the city itself.

Dodoma is a relatively small city, which according to the latest data (statistics from 2012) has a permanent population of 410.000  people. It gives the impression of a cozy and bright city, built with a well-thought-out layout. There is no piling up of tall buildings, on the contrary, we can say that the capital of Tanzania fits very harmoniously into the natural landscape of the savannah and the surrounding hills.

A typical Dodoma street

The city is crossed by two regional roads running north-south and east-west. Thus, Dodoma is divided into four segments, and each of those segments is well-designed and divided into neighborhoods. The planning of the new capital was approached with such care that the master plan was developed twice, the competition was attended by international companies, and the approval of the final project, in the end, took more than ten years.

The streets of the city are pleasant to walk on – there are pedestrian sidewalks (in general, for traditional urban planning in Tanzania, this is a serious problem). Also, Dodoma was originally designed as a modern capital with facilities for cyclists and convenient bus services. Traditional dala dalas – minibusses that operate like shuttle buses run through the city, as well as bajaji, popular covered three-wheeled cabs.

The tallest building in the capital is the Anglican Tower, a 14-story building reaching 54 meters in height. In addition to it, Dodoma has three similar office towers with 11 or 12 storeys. Otherwise, the city is pleasing in the fact that it does not overhang you. Dodoma feels open and welcoming, giving a feeling of almost provincial peace in the depths of the African continent. This is in stark contrast to Dar es Salaam, which is perpetually jammed with traffic and churning out skyscrapers one after the other.

The railway station in Dodoma was built in 1910 when a vital railway line running from the port of Dar es Salaam to the strategically important Lake Tanganyika reached the town. Back then Dar es Salaam was the main city of the colony, and Lake Tanganyika on the border with the then-Belgian colony of Congo had high strategic importance. Originally, there was a village of the local Gogo people on the site of modern Dodoma, who traditionally lived on the territories of modern central Tanzania. The Germans founded a small colonial settlement on the basis of that village in 1890. It was the railroad that gave impetus to the development of the city, which grew especially noticeably under British rule.

The idea of moving the capital from the coastal Dar es Salaam, vulnerable to enemy naval attacks, to the center of the colony was first raised in 1916. Dodoma was then seen as a potential capital. Later the same idea was voiced by the British government, which inherited the German colony in East Africa under the Versailles Peace Treaty, which ended World War I. However, they have never implemented this plan.

Once again the Tanzanians themselves returned to the discussion of moving the capital in 1961, after achieving independence from Great Britain. Now the main argument in favor was not the safety of the capital in case of enemy attack, but the need to develop the vast interior of the country, where the distances between settlements were large and the cities experienced slow growth.

Such long conversations that stretch over decades, remind us of the Brazilian example of moving the capital from Rio de Janeiro to the purpose-built Brasilia. The essential difference between the cases of Brazil and Tanzania was that in the end, the South American country managed to implement such a large-scale project in a short time. The similarity is that in both cases it did not go according to plan.

A roundabout in the center of Dodoma

The decision was finally made in 1973 by President Julius Nyerere (whose statue stands at the central square of modern Dodoma). By that time, the city’s population had surpassed 40,000, but there was still plenty of potential for growth. In contrast, the then-capital Dar es Salaam was already overpopulated and had reached the limits of its organic development, putting pressure on the local natural resources.

Dodoma stood at the crossroads of important roads connecting northern Arusha with southern Mbeya, and eastern Dar es Salaam with the large city of Mwanza in the northwest. The town was surrounded by beautiful scenery and has always had a good climate – not too hot (average temperatures ranging from 16.5 to 28.8 ° C) and not too humid, with one moderate rainy season from about December to April. In contrast, the heat and humidity of Dar es Salaam markedly reduced working productivity. Moreover, floods periodically eroded the city during the rainy seasons, which occur twice a year on the coast. Incidentally, this problem in Dar es Salaam has not yet been solved.

In general, many factors prompted the move of the Tanzanian capital to Dodoma, and the government organized the preparation of two concept plans for the city. The first was demonstrated in 1976, which presented Dodoma as an idyllic garden city, and the second in 1988, as more realistic and tangibly more economical. The implementation of the second plan began in the 1990s, and, as we can see, continues sluggishly to this day. In 1996, the parliament was obliged to meet four times a year in Dodoma. Officials are said to still travel reluctantly to the capital, struggling to succumb to the allure of this cozy town, too much like a provincial administrative center.

Purchasing your visa upon arrival is standard.

The tourist visa is valid for 90 days and the cost is $50 for foreigners, $100 for US citizens. That said, roughly 50 countries from around the world are exempt, including South Africa, India, Hong Kong, Singapore and Brazil. For the full list of exemptions, please go here.

For those in need of a visa, note that you’ll be given an entry form on the plane to fill in. When you land, an immigration officer will look over your passport and entry card, then ask about your accommodation and departure date, before sending you to the cashier’s window.

Once the cashier receives your passport and payment, you’ll be asked to wait in a designated area. After processing, they’ll call your name, return your passport (visa stamp in place), and provide you with a receipt. Your new tourist visa is good for one year, but you can only stay in the country for 90 days at a time.

There are no mandatory vaccinations for entering Tanzania. The only exception is proof of a yellow fever vaccination if you’re coming from a country with a known yellow fever epidemic.

That said, to ensure your health whilst travelling abroad you should have the following vaccinations: typhoid, TDP, varicella (unless you’ve had chicken pox), and Hepatitis A and B. If you’re an adventurous eater, you might want to add cholera to the list.

Tanzania is in a malaria zone, as shown in the map below. That said, malaria isn’t an issue in all parts of the country. But you might want to consider using anti-malaria medication. If so, please order enough to be able to continue taking them seven days after returning home.

All good accommodations where mosquitoes are an issue provide you with netting around your bed.

Finally, your doctor may recommend a rabies shot – a series of two doses over a four-week period – if you plan on caving or working with animals.

Insect repellent and sunscreen

Please bring enough insect repellent and sunscreen for the trip. You’re heading to a country just south of the Equator, and so it can get very hot. It’s not easy to find insect repellent and sunscreen in Tanzania and, when you do, they’re pricey.

Whilst on safari, you need to protect yourself from tsetse flies. These flies can transmit African trypanosomiasis, also known as sleeping sickness. It’s best to wear light-colour clothing; tsetse flies are attracted to dark colours, especially shades of blue. Unfortunately products containing DEET usually don’t discourage tsetse flies from biting, so try to find a natural insect repellent containing eucalyptus oil.

The three international airports in Tanzania are in Dar es Salaam, Arusha and Zanzibar. There are many other airports, as well as airstrips, that one can use for travel within Tanzania.

Julius Nyerere International Airport (DAR) in Dar es Salaam

This airport is on the east coast. It’s the biggest airport and you may need to fly here and then catch a connection to one of the smaller ones. This airport makes the most sense if you’re heading to west, central or southern Tanzania.

Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO) near Arusha

JRO is just outside of Arusha, the main city of northern Tanzania. This is the ideal airport if you’re heading on a Northern Circuit safari or a Kilimanjaro climb. As you can see in the map below, it’s very close to Moshi, the closest town to Kilimanjaro National Park.

JRO is also the closest major airport to the large game reserves of the north like Serengeti National Park. That said, Tanzania is a big country and it will take a day to drive from JRO to the Serengeti, for instance, especially as much of the drive is on dirt roads that require four-wheel drive. You might like to consider flying to one of the various airstrips across northern Tanzania to reduce travel times.

Zanzibar Abeid Amani Karume Airport (ZNZ) in Zanzibar

If you’re heading to the Zanzibar archipelago, then you want to fly into ZNZ on Unguja Island. If you’re heading to Zanzibar from elsewhere in Tanzania, then you could also use Pemba Airport (PMA) depending on your planned itinerary.

Zanzibar is famous for its beautiful, warm-water beaches, unique cultural history, beautiful game parks and wildlife, and water sports. We find that many like to fly there from Kilimanjaro International Airport after having completed a Kili climb in order to relax and unwind after their epic trek.

Fly into Kenya and drive south

Note that you could also choose to fly into Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO) in Nairobi, Kenya, and then drive southwards for 800 km to reach the Tanzania border. This works well for those wanting to visit both Kenya and Tanzania.

Note that if you’re going to visit more than one nation in the region, you’ll probably want to obtain an East African visa over just a Tanzanian visa.