Most local or international tour companies, hotels, or other business accept US dollar, UK pound or Euro as a form of payment. Hard cash is usually the most preferred method of payment since electronic payment system or payment by personal check are not well established in Arusha, or within Tanzania. Few regions in Tanzania have ATM machines where you can use your credit card like American Express, Visa, Mastercard, other credit cards, bank check card or personal debit card to withdraw hard cash but bare in mind that the cash withdrawn from these ATM machines will be in Tanzania Shillings.
You need to obtain visa in order to enter the country. Depending on which country you reside in, Tanzania Embassy in your country should be able to provide you with all the information needed to get visa.
Depending on the time of the year, the weather can be a little bit different from time to time. The rainy season is during the months of late March to mid May. There is few rain showers during the month of November and December but not compared to heavy rains early during the year. The months of June to August are mainly cold especially if you are north of the country, (Arusha, Kilimanjaro, and Manyara regions). The mid section of the country (Morogoro, Iringa, and Mbeya regions) are also cold and windy during those months.
Food in Tanzania is rich in test and choices. Most of the food and fruits of your choice are fresh and well prepared for you. Depending what region you are in, you can find almost different kind of food with different touch and background from the region. In general, Tanzania food is influenced also by the Indian and Arabic touch which was introduced during colonial era.
Tanzania has approximately 120 different ethnic or tribal groups. Each ethnic group has its own language. Although there are different languages for each group, Swahili is the country official language which is used for inter tribal communication and also for official matters. More than 90% of Tanzanians speaks Swahili. English, which was the official language during colonial era under British rule is also used as official language along side Swahili. English is also included in school curriculum from grade three in primary school level, and all classes in secondary school level are taught in English. French is another language which is used now and then by a few number of people.
Tanzania has four major Airports. Dar-es-Salaam International Airport which is located in Dar-es-Salaam, Kilimanjaro International Airport(KIA) which is located in Kilimanjaro, and Zanzibar International Airport which is located in the island of Zanzibar. Depending on your safari arangements, if your destination is to the Northern Circuit which includes Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Lake Manyara, Tarangire, Kilimanjaro and so forth, you will be better of to fly in KIA. If your Safari is for Southern Circuit which includes Mikumi, Ruaha, Selous, and so forth, fly in to DIA. For the Western Circuit, you can fly in to Mwanza International Airport.