Dec 20, 20234 min read

Travel from Kenya - Tanzania via the Lunga Lunga Border

In this Kenya/Tanzania travel guide, we will tell you everything you need to know to cross the Lunga Lunga Border Post.

Before I made this crossing I couldn't find any details about it online, so if you're looking to cross from Kenya to Tanzania by land - this post could be very useful for you.

There are multiple border crossings between Kenya to Tanzania, but today we are talking about the Lunga Lunga Border Post, which is the closest one to the coast.

This means if you're coming from anywhere around Mombasa and want to enter Tanzania by land (or vice versa), this would be the most convenient crossing for you.

Not sure what to pack for your African adventure? Check out my article:

The Only Female Backpacking Packing List You'll Ever Need

We were staying in Diani Beach, a 5-minute drive from the town of Ukunda.

The long-distance buses that come from the main hub of Mombasa always cross through Ukunda on the way to the Tanzanian border, so this is where we hopped on.

How to cross by land from Kenya to Tanzania via the Lunga Lunga border post

We booked our tickets in person at Simba Coach in Ukunda, this is an agent who booked us on a Tahmeed bus, which runs from Mombasa to Dar-Es-Salaam several times a day.

If you book directly with Tahmeed you will pay 1900KES (£10) for this journey, or if you book with an agent like Simba Coach the ticket will be around 2200KES.

You will need your passport information to make the booking, and you will receive your ticket via WhatsApp. You can pay for your ticket with cash or Mpesa.

We booked our tickets 3 days before our day of travel, and we chose the 7:30am bus. The bus left from Mombasa at 7:30am, which meant it would swing past Ukunda around 8:30am.

The pickup point is outside of the main KCB Bank Branch, and if you can't find it, all of the local people will point you in the right direction.

We arrived at the border by 10am, and all stepped off the bus, guided by the porters, through immigration. Kenyans do not need a visa to enter Tanzania, they just show their Yellow Fever vaccination cards and get stamped, so their processing is fairly quick.

As a Mzungu you will likely need a visa, and as UK Citizens we can get one on arrival. It's 50USD in cash for a 90-day single-entry visa. You will be whisked away to a side room to organise this, the border official did not ask for proof of onward travel, just our Yellow Fever vaccination books.

This processing at the Lunga Lunga Border Post took about 15 minutes in total, and afterwards, we were directed to walk 5 minutes across the parking lot to wait for our bus. The bus dilly-dallied in that area for another half an hour before getting on the road again around 11am.

Google Maps indicates that the journey from the Kenya/Tanzania Lunga Lunga Border Post to Dar-Es-Salaam is another 7 hours, but T.I.A. my friends.

We first stopped a couple of hours later in a town called Tanga for 10 minutes for lunch, if you are heading to Moshi or Arusha in Tanzania this is where you would jump off and change buses.

For those continuing to Dar-Es-Salaam, there is another rest break around 4pm, then begins the slow trudge into the city's traffic. We got 'kind of' near our hostel by 8pm and then just decided to jump out and take a taxi as the bus was taking so long to move inches.

Overall the process was very simple, and actually, the bus seats are really comfy, just be prepared to be travelling the whole day.

A girl with a backpack in Ukunda — Waiting for the bus in Ukunda

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Kenya-Tanzania Border Crossing checklist:

Passport
Yellow Fever Vaccination Certificate (The Yellow Book)
Address of onward stay
Cash in US Dollars
Cash to exchange for a small amount of Tanzanian Shillings for any incidentals until you can withdraw cash, we exchanged £10 into Tsh and it came in very handy for some lunch and a taxi later on. Check the current exchange rate before you travel.

It's worth noting that all of the border officials are super helpful, and for me, there was no indication of corruption, something that I had heard happens a lot throughout Kenya.

If you would like to know more about my time in Kenya, check out my article: My 3-week itinerary around Kenya.

Thank you for reading my post: Travel from Kenya - Tanzania via the Lunga Lunga border.

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Happy Travels

xx