How Does Driving Rules Work in Tanzania?
Last verified: 2025-06 · Africa & Oceania
1The Quick Answer
Drive on the left; a 4WD is essential in national parks, night driving outside cities is risky, and self-driving in the Serengeti is technically possible but guided is strongly recommended.
2What You Need to Know
Tanzania drives on the left side of the road, as in the UK and Kenya. Road quality is generally poor outside major highways — potholes, unpaved sections, and unmarked speed bumps are hazards throughout the country. A 4WD vehicle is mandatory for national park driving where tracks are deeply rutted during the wet season. Night driving on rural roads is strongly discouraged due to livestock, unmarked vehicles, pedestrians, and wildlife near park buffer zones. Self-drive safaris in the Serengeti are technically permitted but navigation without marked roads, combined with the risk of breakdown in remote areas, makes a guided vehicle far safer. An International Driving Permit is required alongside your national licence.
3Practical Tips
Practical Tips
- 1If renting a vehicle for independent travel, hire a local driver for the day — the cost is modest and eliminates the risks of navigation, breakdown management, and road condition uncertainty.
- 2Speed bumps (often unmarked) appear suddenly even on main roads in Tanzania — drive slowly through any settlement regardless of the road quality.
- 3Fuel up at every opportunity outside major towns — petrol stations are scarce on routes between cities and non-existent inside national parks.
Important Warning
Driving at night outside major Tanzanian cities is genuinely dangerous due to unlighted livestock on roads, broken-down vehicles without lights, and wildlife near park boundaries — avoid it entirely where possible.
How does this compare?
Driving Rules rules in nearby and similar countries:
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