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There are no bans or restrictions in place for travel into Tanzania. Commercial flights to and from the East African nation are in operation. With international travel back in motion, many tour operators (including us at Twende Africa Tours) are once again in the swing of things and running Kilimanjaro climbs. Our mountain crew is fit and raring to go, and have already led quite a few groups of climbers to the roof of Africa since August 2020. * We regularly update the information in this blog post to reflect the latest coronavirus-related news and developments pertaining to travel to Tanzania. Robert, James, Roger and Andrew at the summit of Kilimanjaro this October! The coronavirus in Tanzania Tanzania, like many countries, closed its borders to tourists in early 2020 in a bid to slow the spread of Covid-19. For a while, there were no climbers on Mt Kilimanjaro. This hit mountain crews hard, as they had no work during this time. Midway through 2020 Tanzania’s President John Magufuli lifted the travel ban, and the country has remained opened to foreign visitors since. A quiet Kilimanjaro climb … Climbers have been trickling back into northern Tanzania to attempt to summit Mt Kilimanjaro ever since Tanzania reopened her borders. That said, the slopes of Kilimanjaro are still relatively quiet. For those eager for an uncrowded Kilimanjaro climb, the conditions right now are uniquely favorable. Even the usually busy routes up the mountain, like the Lemosho and Machame, are relatively empty. Take a look at this short, inspiring video showing the unusually quiet climb experienced by our friend Nick while climbing Kilimanjaro in July 2020. Get your Local Kilimanjaro guide! All you need to know for a successful Kilimanjaro climb. Tanzania and Covid-19 test requirements Tanzania doesn’t require you to take a coronavirus test prior to flying into the country. That said, please be sure to check for any requirements in place from your home country, any transit country, as well as the airline (or airlines) you’re flying with. Coronavirus testing near Kilimanjaro If you require a Covid-19 test while in Tanzania, no problem. You can have a test done for about $100 at Selian Hospital in Arusha or Mawenzi Regional Hospital in Moshi (the two towns closest to Kilimanjaro and Northern Safaris). The current turnaround time for tests results is 72 hours. We can organize testing for you! We’re happy to arrange this test for you. We’ll also drive you there, of course, and organize to receive your results. Please note, however, that the onus is on you to request a coronavirus test if one is needed. This means checking with your airline and home country to see if a test result is required prior to travel (as well as the timeframes involved). Both Arusha and Moshi have hospitals where you can get a coronavirus test if you decide you need one Safety precautions when travelling to Tanzania during the pandemic The Government of Tanzania has put certain safety measures in place to help prevent the spread of coronavirus through the tourism sector: All travellers are advised to wear a face mask that covers their mouth and nose (though this isn’t mandatory). Everyone is advised to sanitize their hands regularly – and properly! You are given a Health Surveillance Form to fill in on the airplane. Upon arrival in Tanzania, all travellers will have their temperature taken in the airport – those with symptoms of the virus will be taken to a government-sanctioned hotel for a 14-day quarantine (at your own expense). Kilimanjaro climbers can also anticipate temperature checks at their local hotel and at the gates to Kilimanjaro National Park. If you’d like to know more, please read the Government of Tanzania’s Standard Operating Procedures for the management of Covid-19. Face masks and hand sanitizer Please bring your own protective face masks for your time in Tanzania. You won’t wear them on the mountain, as there’s already limited oxygen. But it’s a good idea to wear a face mask during your travels before and after the climb. Face masks aren’t compulsory in Tanzania, but we do advise wearing them, in keeping with the recommendation set forth by the World Health Organization. While hand sanitizer is provided at most establishments and we provide it for you during our climbs, we still recommend having your own personal hand sanitizer that you carry with you at all times. How Twende Africa Tours is protecting staff and climbers from the virus Safety has always been a top priority with Twende Africa Tours. Accordingly, all of our Tanzania lead staff have undergone specialized Covid-19 prevention training. And we follow all of the new standard operating procedures set out by the Tanzanian authorities in terms of Covid-19 prevention. These measures include: Temperature checks Mask wearing (not on the mountain, as breathing is already too difficult at high altitude) Social distancing (especially on the mountain, when face masks can’t be worn) Regular hand sanitization Twende Africa Tours climbers can be confident that we take all necessary precautions to protect the health of our staff and clients. Our cooks wear protective face masks when preparing your food. And we implement social distancing wherever possible – an easy thing to do when actually trekking! “I climbed Kilimanjaro in October 2020 during the pandemic difficult times and it was a great break after being locked down for weeks in my home country (France). Tanzania is luckily a very safe place in this regard.” Steve, For further client feedback, please take a look at our Trustpilot score and reviews. Tanzania’s coronavirus statistics As of June 2020, the Government of Tanzania stopped publishing official data on the number of coronavirus cases in the country. This means we do not have any coronavirus stats for Tanzania at this time. Twende Africa Tours’s amended booking policy This year has been a real doozy! So much has been (and remains) up in the air, making travel somewhat difficult to plan. We want to enable you to book your adventure with confidence. With that in mind, these are our assurances in terms of all existing and new travel bookings … 1. Flexibility For all bookings, we’ve reduced the number of days before your departure that you must give notice in order to make changes. Our notice period was initially six weeks, but now it’s just three weeks. This means you can change your trip, for any reason, up to three weeks before your scheduled departure date. No hassle, no questions asked, and no charge. If you choose to amend your booking, you can select any new departure date. We’re very flexible, and will work on a case-by-case basis to ensure the best solution is found for you! 2. Support from your trip manager Your dedicated trip manager is always on hand to help with any questions you have prior to your trip. We want you to feel confident and safe before leaving for your trip. Your trip manager is always up to date on local travel regulations and restrictions, and so is equipped to guide you through your travel process as smoothly as possible. 3. Reduced booking deposit To give you even further confidence to book, we’ve reduced our booking deposit amount by half. It was $5250 and is now just $100. 4. Financial protection Rest assured that your money is protected when you make a deposit with Twende Africa Tours. We don’t sub-contract, which means that the money you spend with us, stays with us. 5. Small groups Our travel groups are always small. This offers security, access, camaraderie, and a better connection with your destination. For social distancing efforts its a real plus. If you want it to be just you and your mates, chat to us for more information about making your trip private! 6. Want your own room? We got you! If you’re joining one of our small group trips on your own, good on you! Solo travelling is all the rage right now. It’s up to you if you want to have your own room or share with someone else. If you do opt to share a room, your roommate won’t change for the entire journey to support social distancing efforts. As always, please feel free to contact us at any time! We’d love to connect with you and talk adventure travel.

It's really luck to have family or parent who will stand for you and get some basic needs! Foot Slopes Foundation endeavors to improve the quality of life for the children in need. Through multiple services and projects, focusing particularly on children in extreme poverty, we are striving to reduce the illness, child mortality, provide educational opportunities and support community development. We are top-notch Tanzania Safari Tour Operators based in Arusha for Safari in Tanzania, we specializing in Tanzania family Safari Packages, Honeymoon Safaris, Serengeti Great Migration Safari, Photography Safaris, Tanzania Private Small Group Safari, Private Wildlife Safari, Luxury Tanzania Safari Tours & Travel, Mountain Trekking and hiking (Kilimanjaro and Mount Meru).

What is it that prevents us from finding happiness? Is it not the ever lasting 'effort' to find & seek that eludes the happiness we so desperately desire. Don't we find it when we are alone, perhaps near a beach or on top of a mountain.... Could it be that happiness was always within our grasp? The beach, the mountain or the solitude....,they all paved the way for it to emerge. Isn't it true that in all these we have let go, we have let go the effort. The effort to find and seek. We were just there. Thinking about nothing. Effortlessly present with inner stillness. Isn't it our thoughts that hides our true sense, our true self, which is always happy. How wonderful, How liberating would it be to truly experience this profound, effortless inner stillness... For a moment, for a second, for an hour, for eternity.... Visit: www.nisala.org/webinars

Here are the links to the guided meditations we are practicing with during the MBSR course: Feel free to choose the recoding for the week you are at that resonates best with you. I will continuously add more links to high-quality recordings to cover a broader spectrum of voices and personal styles. Like the posture, the teacher that works best for where you are at today might differ. Yet in their core, those different meditation are the same. We offer a free guided meditation once a week live on zoom. Onve a month we offer a free FAQ session for this course. To see the time and dates and sign up for a session please checkout Tine's profile. Some recordings are by Dave Potter, an experienced MBSR teacher and psychotherapist who put together this online course. Jon Kabat-Zinn is the founder of the MBSR course. Emma Reynolds is an experienced MBSR teacher with the Mindful Academy, Solterreno, Spain. This is where I got my training too. Lynn Rossy is a health psychologist, author, researcher, and Kripalu yoga teacher specializing in mindfulness-based interventions. Week 1: Bodyscan Bodyscan 29min by Jon Kabat-Zinn (the founder of MBSR) Bodyscan 15min (YouTube) Bodyscan 15min (InsightTimer) by Tine Steiß Bodyscan 33min by Dave Potter Bodyscan 45min by UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness Bodyscan 20min by Emma Reynolds Compassionate Body Scan 24min by Kristin Neff Week 2: Sitting Meditation Sitting Meditation 32min by Dave Potter Sitting Meditation 40min by Jon Kabat-Zinn (the founder of MBSR) Week 3 and 4: Mindful Yoga Mindful Yoga 1 37min by Lynn Rossy PhD Mindful Yoga 2 36min by Lynn Rossy PhD Week 5: "Turning towards" the difficult, Soften, Sooth, Allow Turning Towards - Meditation for difficult emotions 23min by Dave Potter Turning Towards - Meditation for physical pain 25min by Dave Potter Soften, Soothe, Allow 16min by Dave Potter Soften, Soothe, Allow 9min by Happiness Insight RAIN 11min by Dave Potter Week 6: Mindfulness and Communication Mountain Meditation 20min by Dave Potter Lake Meditation 20min by Dave Potter Week 7: Mindfulness and Compassion Lovingkindness Meditation 13min by Dave Potter Other meditations that are closely related to the MBSR curriculum: Taking a breath - taking a break 13min by Tine Steiß Breathing Meditation for Beginners 10min by Jack Kornfield Labelling emotions 20min by Emma Reynolds the RAIN of Self-Compassion by Tara Brach (PhD in Clinical Psychology, founder of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington and author of Radical Acceptance, True Refuge, Freedom In Your Own Awakened Heart) Oneness Meditation 35min by Jon Kabat-Zinn (the founder of MBSR)

Rather than healing from emotional fatigue, perhaps we should avoid getting ourselves in that situation. I would prefer to set a path direction, rather than an objective, while enjoying what comes along in the journey. A slow walk in the forest to the mountain top would be definitely be better and less tiring than rushing there straight. When we reached a destination, we'll realize we gained during the journey. It's never about the goal.

It seems that the course is so well timed with what’s going on in my life. This last week or so (I’m moving through the course slowly) has been filled with challenging interactions and a gratefulness for the resources. I mentioned at the beginning not liking being told what to do and having somewhat of an aversion to guided meditations, but I actually enjoyed them this week. I did the lake one first and was so happy to be told to lie down for the practice. The imagery of nature is something I related to the most so I appreciated the guidance and appreciated that there was only guidance for half the mediation and there was quiet space to observe at the end. I was a little disappointed to not be given the option to lie down for the mountain meditation but it made sense considering the nature of the meditation. I especially found it helpful when my sister called to vent about her frustrating experience with Centrelink (our welfare system in Australia). Even though I had suggestions it would have been pointless to any anything until she had finished because she needed to be heard and to have the chance to let everything out, so I listened and told her I could hear and understand how frustrated she was and when she had finished totalling I made 1 suggestion which she thought made sense. While I was listening I was imaging the mountain with passing seasons and just watching them and I really did observe my sister go from frustration to exhaustion and then a kind of calm in having been heard. I find one on one conversations easier than group conversations as everyone seems so quick to throw in their opinion or knowledge and I never seem to find the right space to enter the conversation. Sometimes I retreat that as I think that I could have shared something useful and other times I just sit back and save my energy and realise that it’s not that important. Focusing on communication has been a good practice this week to observe my reactions and responses internally rather than acting out external responses. The focus on what is being said has also helped me to hear what is underneath what people are actually saying

I was amazed at how helpful loving kindness meditation was when I started practicing it about three or four months ago. It really helped me get over some resentment about things WAY in the past. The results truly were remarkable. FYI I did not like the mountain meditation last week. To me it just seemed to busy. Onward through the fog.... Mike

@Candy I have signed up, but I don't know how much time I can make for sessions. ? There's a lot happening, but I attended an embodiment session once and found it really insightful, so I'll try my best to participate. 06.05.2020 2pm ET 8pm CET Finding Calm and Contentment in Turbulent Times with Rick Hanson. The author of "Hardwiring happiness" and "Buddha’s Brain" one of the authors in our Top 10 Mindfulness books. This event is organized by the Shambhala Mountain Center. each wednesday 7:30pm EDT 1:30am CET Tara Brach hosts a meditation class each Wednesday - 30min of Vipassana meditation and a 1h Dharma Talk. Tara Brach hosted an Online Satsang but it was full within the shortest time.

This photo makes me happy because I LOVE to go to the Mountains . I live only an hour away so I go a LOT . This is in Rocky Mountain National Park where I usually go. I find my Peace and revive my soul when I am able to see such majesty and beauty. Mother Nature never disappoints.

I have retreated to my mountain home surrounded by birds, flowers,rabbits and lovely neighbors.

Hello everyone, where can I find week 6 mountain or lake meditations? Thank you

Midway Self-Assessment [PDF] So you climbed a mountain this week, huh? Lol!! It does sound kinda painful ?

Thanks for your reply. I totally understand about the power of nature. My practice of stopping this week is to say ‘itadakimasu before eating which is Japanese for receiving, but not just receiving a plate of food but to appreciate the life energy in it. Of the animal that has given its life for you to live if it is meat or the energy of nature that has gone into plant based food and also the energy of the person who prepared it. I usually go outside every morning to eat breakfast and when I’m in nature with the sun on my face, a breeze around me and listening to the birds chirping, it is so easy to stop and appreciate all of those things. I take one mouthful at a time, put my spoon down in between and don’t take the next spoonful until I’ve finished what’s in my mouth. This is relatively easy outside in nature but if it’s raining for example and I’m inside, I start to multitask, reading the news on the internet while eating my breakfast and barely aware of what I’m eating. It’s a completely different experience even if I say ‘itadakimasu’ first. My thinking mind has been active this week and it’s been hard to sleep so I’ve been doing a body scan in bed to take my focus away from thoughts. It works pretty well but the thinking mind is strong and my toes seem so far away from my head when it’s in full swing :) im enjoying the yoga. I climbed a mountain on Tuesday and my body has been aching from using the different muscles, so even though it’s not exactly a pleasant feeling while doing yoga with an aching body, I know that it is helping to stretch out and can still enjoy it. A bit like training ourselves to think that Stephens’s can be useful. Unpleasant movement can also be enjoyable if I view it as good for me :) I hope I will be able to transfer this to other areas of life. i can’t find the mid way point assessment sheet. I’ve been back through week 4 to look for the link but can’t find it. Could anyone help with that please. thank you with a smile :)