Paperwork...

Most of the time when we travel, the paperwork is pretty simple. If you are going to most western countries (Canada, Europe, New Zealand, etc.) you just have to show up at your destination with your US passport. Unless you've been convicted of something serious, you will probably be asked a couple of questions and be allowed entry without much comment. Heading for Tanzania, however, was a little different matter. A picture visa (US$100 per person) is required of most people arriving from outside of East Africa, and the information on the website of the Tanzanian Embassy indicates that this should be obtained in advance. However, this requires sending your passport, two photos, and application in with appropriate payment and waiting for two or more weeks. If you are as uncertain about sending off your passport as I am, this isn't an especially appealing prospect.

David advised us that we could obtain our visas when we arrived - that it was a fast process and the officials were hardly going to turn away US$200 in hard currency. The disconnect between this advice and that of the embassy website gave me a little heartburn but poking around on the Internet revealed that others were able to obtain their visas in-country and recently with little problem. After fretting for some time about this (until it was almost too late to apply to the embassy anyway) I finally decided to go with David's advice. I figured that even if there was a problem, we would be able to find a way around it. One interesting thing I found in my internet research, however, is that payment should be carried in the form of crisp, new US$50 bills. Apparently the US$100 bill is so often counterfeited that it isn't widely trusted in Africa. The US$50 is preferred because it is rarely counterfeited. Furthermore, new bills (the colored ones) are preferred because they are more secure.

Aside from our passports, vaccination certificates, and visa payment, we brought a number of other documents:

Copy of marriage certificate (our last names are different, and in Zanzibar we would be in a conservative muslim area)
Copies of our itinerary and plane tickets
Copies of our passports and vaccination certificates
Contact and emergency numbers in Tanzania and the US
Health insurance information
Travel interruption insurance information

We would also later receive from David our emergency evacuation insurance cards. This was provided as part of the package we signed on for, and is an important thing when travelling in the bush. Bad roads and drivers, wild animals, serious illness and injury are all things that need to be considered when travelling in East Africa. This insurance would provide for immediate medical care and evacuation by air to the nearest appropriate facility, probably in Nairobi. At that point, our health insurance would kick in and the travel interruption insurance would get us back to the US. It is an odd thing to think about. Not something that has to be dealt with much in the US where health care is always as close as 911.