Daniel Graham

Review of Faraja's Orphanage

Beware the corrupt Tanzanian Revenue agency baggag...

Beware the corrupt Tanzanian Revenue agency baggage check on arrival! This is an additional mandatory bag scan after customs, at which point we were detained for 2 hours and extorted for over 40% of the value of goods that we had brought in to donate to an orphanage ($80 on under $200 of goods). They forced us to exchange US dollars to Tanzanian schillings, and we did see the customs agents splitting the cash amongst each other and pocketing it. Multiple other groups were help up for similar reasons, and local people held up were able to negotiate lower bribes to the agents. It would have been more courteous to simply pickpocket us, rather than holding us up for 2 hours. Sadly an unfortunate representation of the corruption issues still rampant in the Tanzanian government. Don t let this discourage you from visiting this incredible country, just take measures to ensure you are not a target. Next time we would simply donate cash to the orphanage we support, and that way they can stimulate the local economy as well.

On departure, we went up to the Tanzanite VIP lounge included with our tickets to find it quite dirty, unairconditioned and 15 degrees hotter than the rest of the airport and quite run down.