Accessible safari in Tanzania: what to ask before you book

A deck like this is usually reached by two or three steps. That is the kind of detail a brochure photograph will not tell you.

The problem with the word

“Accessible” on a safari website usually means that somebody at the camp was asked whether a wheelchair user could stay, and said yes. It is not a lie exactly. It is just not information.

The word covers a camp with a roll-in shower, a level path and a bed you can transfer onto, and it equally covers a camp with three steps to the tent, a bath with a 500 mm side, and a sand path from the vehicle. Both get described the same way in a brochure.

So the only useful approach is to stop asking whether a place is accessible and start asking for numbers. The questions below are the ones we ask on your behalf, and you are entitled to ask any operator the same.

The twelve questions to ask

What a good answer sounds like

A good answer is a number, a date and a name: “Clear door width 810 mm, measured by our own team in March, roll-in shower with no lip, bed 620 mm to the top of the mattress with clear space beneath.”

An acceptable answer is an honest negative: “Two steps to the tent, 100 mm each, no ramp available. This camp will not work for a wheelchair user travelling independently.” That is useful. It saves you a trip.

A bad answer is any of these: “fully accessible”, “we can accommodate all needs”, “the staff will assist”, “it should be fine”. None of them contains information, and the last one in particular tends to mean nobody has checked.

If an operator cannot answer, the right follow-up is: “Can you find out and put it in writing before I pay a deposit?” An operator who will not is telling you something useful.

Light aircraft, which is where it gets hard

Internal flights in Tanzania are the part of access planning that most often goes wrong, and the part brochures say least about.

The aircraft are small — typically Cessna Caravans and similar. Boarding is a short ladder or a step onto the wing. Assistance is routine and usually willing, and it is manual rather than mechanical: no aisle chairs, no ambulift, no jet bridge.

A powered wheelchair is the hard case. It has to fit through the cargo door, fit in a shaped compartment, and be within a weight allowance that is set by the aircraft's load sheet on that day. Battery type matters for carriage rules. None of this is impossible and all of it needs settling in writing weeks in advance, with the specific airline rather than with the tour operator.

Luggage on these sectors is commonly limited to one soft bag of about 15 kg plus a small day bag — and a soft bag is a requirement, not a preference, because the compartments are shaped. subject to confirmation: confirm limits per airline and per aircraft.

Insurance, which is where people get caught

Travel insurance is where disabled travellers most often lose money, and it is almost always an exclusion rather than a refusal.

Read for these: whether every pre-existing condition has been declared and accepted in writing; whether mobility equipment is covered for damage in transit, and to what value; whether the policy covers repatriation with a medical escort rather than just a seat; and whether “unsuitable accommodation” is excluded from cancellation cover, which can void a claim when a camp turns out not to work.

Emergency medical evacuation is separate and matters more in Tanzania than in most places, because the parks are hours from a hospital by road. We do not provide it and we tell people to arrange it at the enquiry stage rather than in the small print.