Emergency numbers in Tanzania

This information may change. Always check the official source.Last verified: August 2026 by Ondřej Kadlec

Dial 112, but do not rely on it. Your operator, your lodge and your evacuation insurer are the emergency system that actually works here.

112 is the emergency number, with 114 and 115 also in use, but response is slow and outside the cities is often not a real service.
Your lodge, your operator and your insurer's 24-hour line are the emergency system that actually works here. Save all three on day one.
Call your insurer first if there is any time at all. They decide where you go and they authorise the payment, and serious cases end up in Nairobi.
On the mountain your guide is the emergency service. A reputable operator carries oxygen and a stretcher; tell them about symptoms early rather than after a collapse.
Print the Zanzibar insurance QR code as well as keeping it on the phone. A dead battery at Stone Town immigration is a problem you can prevent.

112 is the emergency number and reaches police, ambulance and fire.
114 and 115 are also in use for fire and ambulance in some areas.
Response is slow and outside the cities is often not a real service. This is not a country where an ambulance arrives.
Save your lodge, your operator and your insurer's 24-hour line in your phone on day one. Those are your emergency numbers in practice.

Call your insurer's emergency line first if there is any time at all. They decide where you go and they authorise the payment.
AMREF Flying Doctors is who flies you out of a bush airstrip. Membership is inexpensive and is bought before you travel.
In Dar es Salaam, Aga Khan Hospital is the usual destination; in Arusha, the private clinics.
Serious cases go to Nairobi, which is where the regional standard of care is.
Expect to pay or guarantee payment before treatment. Keep every receipt and get an itemised bill.

Your guide is the emergency service. A reputable Kilimanjaro operator carries oxygen, a pulse oximeter and a stretcher, and uses them.
Tell your guide about symptoms early. Descending at the first sign of altitude sickness is routine; descending after collapse is not always possible.
In camp at night, do not leave the tent alone. Call for the askari, the guard, who is there for exactly this.

Report a theft to the police and get the written report, which insurers require and which takes hours to obtain.
A lost passport means your embassy or high commission in Dar es Salaam, with the police report first.
If you are arrested, ask to contact your embassy and do not sign anything you cannot read.
Keep photographs of your passport, visa, insurance and yellow fever certificate in your phone and your email.

Register with your foreign ministry's travel service if it offers one.
Leave your itinerary with someone at home, including your operator's name and number.
Print the Zanzibar insurance QR code as well as keeping it on the phone. A dead battery at Stone Town immigration is a problem you can prevent.

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Emergency numbers and help in Tanzania