Credit cards in Tanzania?

Plenty of businesses take credit cards. It is best to have a Visa card as they work in all cash machines whereas Maestro/Solo cards do not. There were plenty of ATMs in Dar and Arusha and some in more remote areas. It is best to have some cash at most times though.
We paid by credit card at our accomodation in Zanzibar and most other places and I think very few places would take credit cards for accomodation.
Hope that helps,
Ben

It's true that you'll find more ATMs that accept the visa / plus network, but there are now Barclays or Stanbic banks in most bigger places (Dar, Arusha, Moshi, Mwanza, Stonetown) that accept master / maestro.
Credit cards are usually only accepted at the higher end places. Most airlines also seem to demand US$ cash unless you can book online.

Just to add; don't rely on being able to pay by credit card - even high end hotels can struggle with the visa system of authorisation. I once spent over an hour waiting for clearance when trying to catch a flight to Dar.

ATMs used to have a max amount of 400,000 TSH per day. Some allow foreign cards to take out more. In Dar, they are fairly reliable but I have been caught out with out of service (normally meaning out of cash)

Personally, I didn't know of that many businesses taking visa and wouldn't have relied on it- only the high end hotels/ travel agents. All will add 5% to the total if you use a card.

Agree with all that. System goes down a lot and only high end takes cards. Best to use some kind of access card at a bank and take out cash. Stuff is cheap (eg a beer is usually only 1,000 TSH = $1 AUD).

I saw surcharges as high as 10% to use a credit card in some places. Given that, plus the international transaction fee your card may charge you, it's a lot cheaper to go to an ATM and get money as you need it and pay the smaller charge your bank may levy for the use of another ATM. Remembering that it is cheaper to get more out once than less out multiple times, if your bank does levy that kind of fee.

As an unrelated (though hopefully helpful) sidenote, be sure to take LOTS of small bills. Not only for tipping, but my experience was that businesses often did not (or claimed to not) have change when you go to pay for meals or drinks. Not even very large bills (in my mind), but like 5,000 TSh notes. Between needing to tip about 100 more people than I ever imagined and the fact that most places did not have change, we were constantly out of small bills, EVEN THOUGH we specifically asked for small bills at the forex when we arrived in Tanzania (again, 5,000 seemed small enough to us, but not so!).

All of the big centres in Tanzania have ATM machines in places that are not hard to find. I found Visa to be best - the Cirrus network and Mastercard didn't work in most places. Plan on using cash to pay for most things, except perhaps your Safari - I payed by credit card with no problems. I was also able to book flights over the internet with a credit card. Like #5, I found the best system for me was to use an ATM to get out a reasonably large amount of cash at once (but make sure you store it in a safe place!!!), then use that to pay for everything, and withdraw money again when supplies run low.

Agree that credit cards are not often used - I didn't touch mine in a 12-day trip. Not even to buy an air ticket from the Precision Air office at Dar airport. Perhaps really top end hotels (I didn't stay at any of these) and safari companies (didn't use one).

ATMs were readily available and reliable in towns and at Dar airport. I can see that it would be a problem to pay for a US$1000 safari by going back and forwards to a cash machine with a 400,000 TShs limit - even if your card allowed multiple withdrawals. I don't know what the best solution is...

Martin

In Arusha and north Tanzania credit cards are not frequently used.
You can obtain local currency by using your credit card in an ATM or in a change office in the airport. By using Tanzan Shillings you will pay less than if you use USD or Euro.