Tanzania Currency and Money Guide

The short version

The national currency is the Tanzanian shilling, issued by the Bank of Tanzania, which publishes the official exchange rates. In practice travelers on a safari itinerary handle two currencies, because a good deal of the tourism economy is quoted in United States dollars while everyday spending is in shillings.

What to carry

Carry both, and think about them differently. Shillings are for small everyday things: a market purchase, a soft drink, a local craft, a tip to someone who would rather not have to change money. Dollars are what larger tourism items are often quoted in.

US dollar notes are the one place where condition genuinely matters in East Africa. Older, torn or heavily marked notes are widely refused, and small denominations are more useful than a few large ones. Bring clean notes in a spread of denominations rather than one large bill you expect to break.

Cards, ATMs and mobile money

Cards work in the places you would expect: hotels, established lodges, larger restaurants and tour operators. They are much less useful outside those places, and connectivity is not uniform. Mobile money is a large part of how the domestic economy actually moves, but it generally needs a local number, so it is more relevant to residents than to a visiting group.

Treat cash as the reliable option and cards as the convenient one, rather than the reverse.

Tipping

Tipping is customary in Tanzanian tourism, and for a guided group it is a meaningful part of the trip budget rather than loose change. Guides, drivers, camp and lodge teams and, on a climb, the porter and support crew are usually tipped, and the amounts are conventions rather than rules.

We give every group a written tipping guide before departure with the current conventions for their specific itinerary. Ask for it early rather than working it out at the end of the trip: it is much easier to bring the right notes than to find them in the field.

Rates

Exchange rates move, so this page does not print one. The Bank of Tanzania publishes the official rates; the link is in the sources below.

Planning with LABUSA Travel

We plan and manage Tanzania journeys for groups: itinerary design, park permits, lodges, internal flights and ground transport, and a single point of contact while you travel. Start with the Tanzania travel guide, or tell us what your group has in mind on the plan your trip form.