We knew that being in Tanzania for so long, we’d likely want to get a data plan for our phones. And we read that this was pretty easy! We chose Vodacom because the coverage is likely to be better on safari in the Serengeti and central Tanzania. Coverage is a bit spotty on Zanzibar, but worked most places.
We asked around a bit and discovered that street side sellers are the best place to buy SIM cards in Zanzibar. That was literally the only instruction we got, and we discovered the rest for ourselves. Hopefully if you’re trying to track down a SIM in Zanzibar, this guide is of help!
Each top up credit comes on a card that needs to be scratched. If you enjoy lotto tickets, you’re in for a treat. Throw the SIM card into your phone and let’s get going!
Scratch the first top up number off the back of your card. If you read the full line of the card you will be instructed to dial something like *104*topupcode# so do that. Once for each card that you bought.
Each time you enter a code, you should receive a text in Swahili informing you of how much credit you have.
Once you have the correct amount of credit added, it’s time to navigate some Swahili menus. Presuming that you want to add some amount of data to your plan, this is what you do as of November 2017
Dial *149*01#
Choose option 4, interneti.
Choose option 1, interneti
Choose your duration. We wanted a 30 day plan so we chose 4, Siku 30.
Choose the amount of data you want to purchase. We wanted 10gb, so we chose 3.
We couldn’t figure out what the next screen meant even with Google’s translate, but option 1 is what completes the transaction.
Tadah! You now have data with a Vodacom in Tanzania!