Pet permit for Tanzania

Hi there,

We brought our miniature Schnauzer here from the U.S. and I could let you know how we did it. We just contacted the vet here in Arusha via e-mail.
Dr. Lieve Lynen, email [email protected]

She emailed us a scanned copy of the pet import permit, we printed it off, filled it out, scanned it back to her. She looked it over, printed it, signed it, and scanned it back to us with approval. (We also had to show her our dogs shot and health records.) We printed the form and showed it to customs at the airport and had no problems at all. We did have friends here pay her the import permit fee (I think it was around $10 usd) I could try to help you out if you need me to.

The only other form that we had was a travel form from our vet in the U.S. saying the dog as healthy enough to travel. It was a general form that they use for the dog to travel from state to state. (Some vets have no clue what a dog needs internationally, there is no special form for TZ, just the vet health check, and the import permit from a vet here)

Be aware that customs will want to charge you a big "duty" price, asking you how much your dog is worth. They then pretty much make up a percent on how much you should pay. This may be a few hundred USD, that you will need upon arrival at the airport. They do not corentine your dog or anything. They may try to intimidate you looking for a bribe, don't go for it. 

Travel tip - it gets cold under the plane, maybe put a little sweater on your dog if you think your dog might get cold easily, freeze the water and it will slowly melt and be enough for the very long flight.

Check with the airline on all the requirements, also call them before you travel to see if you need to "register your dog" for under the plane. The airline we used wanted to know the exact crate measurements b/c they build special compartments under the plane for the animals. 

Also if the dog has long hair or you are going to be grooming your dog - bring your own dog hair clippers, you can't get those here. 
Also bringing your own front line flea/tick or heart worm meds with you is a good ideas as they are much more expensive here.

Okay, well if you need any more help, let me know.
Bonnie TZ

Hey there! I know this post is from a while back so I hope you still see it.

I'm having difficulties with a company wanting to charge me over 1,300 USD to bring in our two rabbits. I found someone who it willing to do the permits for 50/animal in TZ but because their contact is Tanzanian, he wants to charge us a crapload for import fees. Is there any way around this?

Hi Jessica,
The process for importing a pet from overseas requires the following:
1. Export permit from where the pet is coming from.
2. Vaccination card for the pet.
3.  Documents are submitted to the veterinary board and this costs USD 50.00.
4. Import duty is USD 196.00.
5. Swiss Port handling charges TZS 275,000/=
6. Clearing plus agency fee is USD 150.00 which includes animal bonded warehouse.
7. Export permit plus vaccination card is sent by DHL in order to start the process of receiving the import permit before the arrival of the pet.

I have a person who specializes in such importation and if the above looks OK I can refer you to him.

Regards,

Patrick

Hi Patrick

I would really appreciate the contact details of your friend as I am in the process of moving to Zanzibar and would like to take my 2 dogs with.

Regards
Riana

Details please!