The amazing Tanzanian postal service
 

Yes, I know you'd have to be mad to trust an African postal service
with anything, but we *had* to try it, just to see, just the once!

On 29/10/02 we send a letter to Zanzibar with a good address,
confirmed to us by email from the intended recipient.
It never arrived.
We got worried as it contained details of our forthcoming wedding
plans on Zanzibar (for January 2003) and copies of documents that were
required by the authorities.
It still didnt arrive a month later..
We used "a well known international carrier" to repeat the process, it
arrived 2 days later in Zanzibar and was signed for.

Went to Zan in January, got married and all went very well...returned
home to UK and forgot all about original letter.

Today (13/09/03) the letter was returned to me, opened and in a very
sorry state but with all contents intact (I'm surprised it wasn't just
thrown away once they'd seen there was no cash in it!)

The postmarks reveal a story too, it actually arrived in Dar es Sallam
on 04/11/02, just 5 days after we posted it! From there it
mysteriously vanished only to reappear in Zanzibar on 14/03/03 and
then reappear *again* in Dar es Salaam on 15/03/03!

So after languishing in Dar since March, apparently having a very nice
time and collecting more dust and fingerprints, it finally made its
sorry, bedraggled journey home again bearing the immortal words
"insufficient address"

I can't help thinking that a message in a bottle would have made the
round trip quicker than that...


--
Headline of the week
"Fowl Spell Casts Outrage Among Community"
One resident said: "These witches need to be exposed."
http://allafrica.com/stories/200308220434.html

The amazing Tanzanian postal service
 

Yes, some of us go to Africa not only to see nature, but also to
escape the kind of civilization at home.

What happened to you is one of the prices to pay when you leave
your civilization where most things work. Pay that price
willingly. :-)

Thanks for the interesting and enlightening story! I've heard
about similar things, but then I've never trusted the African
mail systems.

Hans-Georg

--
No mail, please.

The amazing Tanzanian postal service
 

On Sun, 14 Sep 2003 12:43:50 +0200, Hans-Georg Michna
wrote:

Yes, some of us go to Africa not only to see nature, but also to
escape the kind of civilization at home.

What happened to you is one of the prices to pay when you leave
your civilization where most things work. Pay that price
willingly. :-)

Oh we do! having said that, the "price" was £6.60 to send by post and
nearly £50 to go by UPS or similar, that's quite a difference eh?

Thanks for the interesting and enlightening story! I've heard
about similar things, but then I've never trusted the African
mail systems.

Lol, ah well, you know not to anyway ;-)



--
Headline of the week
"Fowl Spell Casts Outrage Among Community"
One resident said: "These witches need to be exposed."
http://allafrica.com/stories/200308220434.html

The amazing Kenyan &Tanzanian postal service
 

Don't even bother to send post cards from Kenya or Tanzania
it is a lost cause.
I mailed 2 cards from Mara Sopa lodge, 2 cards from Amboseli
Serena Lodge and 2 cards from Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge, all
duly addressed and with the proper amount of Airmail postage.
Today over a month later, none of the cards have arrived in Canada.
On top of it, at Ngorongoro we had to wait 2 days before the local
Tuck-shop had a supply of stamps.
Not very impressed by this at all.

Karl Quies (JTK)



"Whitedog" wrote in message ...
On Sun, 14 Sep 2003 12:43:50 +0200, Hans-Georg Michna
wrote:

Yes, some of us go to Africa not only to see nature, but also to
escape the kind of civilization at home.

What happened to you is one of the prices to pay when you leave
your civilization where most things work. Pay that price
willingly. :-)

Oh we do! having said that, the "price" was £6.60 to send by post and
nearly £50 to go by UPS or similar, that's quite a difference eh?

Thanks for the interesting and enlightening story! I've heard
about similar things, but then I've never trusted the African
mail systems.

Lol, ah well, you know not to anyway ;-)



--
Headline of the week
"Fowl Spell Casts Outrage Among Community"
One resident said: "These witches need to be exposed."
http://allafrica.com/stories/200308220434.html

The amazing Kenyan &Tanzanian postal service
 

In message gers.com
"James T. Kirk" wrote:

Don't even bother to send post cards from Kenya or Tanzania
it is a lost cause.
Not necessarily.
I've never had a card not delivered from either Kenya or Tz yet.
I've been advised not to send film though, or packages.

I mailed 2 cards from Mara Sopa lodge, 2 cards from Amboseli
Serena Lodge and 2 cards from Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge, all
duly addressed and with the proper amount of Airmail postage.
Today over a month later, none of the cards have arrived in Canada.
On top of it, at Ngorongoro we had to wait 2 days before the local
Tuck-shop had a supply of stamps.
Not very impressed by this at all.
So in countries with a huge proportion of their population living in dire
poverty, you'd regard getting postcards to Canada in double-quick time a
priority?

Maybe better to stay at home next time, then your postcards might arrive
quickly?

My cards from Namibia this year all arrived about four-five weeks after I
posted them. :-)

Liz


--
Virtual Liz at http://www.v-liz.co.uk
Kenya; Tanzania; India; Seychelles
New Aug '03: Namibia
"I speak of Africa and golden joys"

The amazing Kenyan &Tanzanian postal service
 

"James T. Kirk" wrote:

Don't even bother to send post cards from Kenya or Tanzania
it is a lost cause.
I mailed 2 cards from Mara Sopa lodge, 2 cards from Amboseli
Serena Lodge and 2 cards from Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge, all
duly addressed and with the proper amount of Airmail postage.
Today over a month later, none of the cards have arrived in Canada.
On top of it, at Ngorongoro we had to wait 2 days before the local
Tuck-shop had a supply of stamps.
Not very impressed by this at all.

Karl,

you used an obsolete and dysfunctional service. Go with the
times, send your postcards (even with your own pictures) from
your mobile phone. :-)

GSM seems to work well in many developing countries. It
certainly works in many parts of Kenya, even up to Baringo, in
Maasai Mara, north of Mt. Kenya. It doesn't work everywhere, but
coverage is increasing quickly.

Hans-Georg

--
No mail, please.

The amazing Kenyan &Tanzanian postal service
 

On Tue, 16 Sep 2003 23:36:10 +0100, Liz wrote:

In message gers.com
"James T. Kirk" wrote:

Don't even bother to send post cards from Kenya or Tanzania
it is a lost cause.
Not necessarily.
I've never had a card not delivered from either Kenya or Tz yet.
I've been advised not to send film though, or packages.

Correct, our cards from Zanzibar and mainland Tanzania always arrived
in Austria (and Scotland) 2-3 weeks after we posted them. But we
always sent them using a post office not a lodge.

Michael

The amazing Kenyan &Tanzanian postal service
 

In message
Michael Steiger wrote:

On Tue, 16 Sep 2003 23:36:10 +0100, Liz wrote:

In message gers.com
"James T. Kirk" wrote:

Don't even bother to send post cards from Kenya or Tanzania
it is a lost cause.
Not necessarily.
I've never had a card not delivered from either Kenya or Tz yet.
I've been advised not to send film though, or packages.

Correct, our cards from Zanzibar and mainland Tanzania always arrived
in Austria (and Scotland) 2-3 weeks after we posted them. But we
always sent them using a post office not a lodge.

Mine have been fine from lodges as well, even the one where they didn't have
any stamps so I gae the girl the money to pay for the stamps so's she could
send them when he stamps came in.
:-)

I don't think any small packages I've sent there have arrived, though, so I
wouldn't send any more.

Slainte

Liz
--
Virtual Liz at http://www.v-liz.co.uk
Kenya; Tanzania; India; Seychelles
New Aug '03: Namibia
"I speak of Africa and golden joys"

The amazing Kenyan &Tanzanian postal service
 

On Wed, 17 Sep 2003 20:03:39 +0100, Liz wrote:
I don't think any small packages I've sent there have arrived, though, so I
wouldn't send any more.

Interesting. I didn't have any such trouble sending from Africa.
(Never tried sending to Africa) I sent 2 packages home from
Dar Es Salaam on different days. Both arrived in the US in about 4
weeks. I also shipped from Livingstone, Zambia. No problem there
either. Granted, I didn't ship to the UK, but I would expect that to be
more reliable, not less. All packages were sent air mail.

Sea mail can be entertaining. Three months from Cape Town to the US.

--
Use the From: header. Sending mail to
or will only result in frustration.

The amazing Kenyan &Tanzanian postal service