The Southern African Centre for Infectious Diseases and Surveillance (SACIDS) is delighted to be hosting you in Arusha city (Tanzania) from September 8th – 12th December 2014.

The programme for Epihack Meeting will be sent to your email and available online at http://www.sacids.org/oweb/sacids/home/one~health~portal/epihack soon.

You should have been emailed an invitation letter by Anita Kabwogi of SACIDS. Your invitation letter will help you in processing your visa on arrival for participants who will apply for it on arrival.

On arrival at Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA) you will be met by SACIDS personnel holding a placard with the name “EPIHACK”. Should you not be able to find the SACIDS personnel please contact SECKY @ +255 787 011 677. Arrangement has been made to take you back to the airport from the Hotel on your departure day.

A room has been booked for you at Mount Meru Hotel in Arusha (http://www.mountmeruhotel.com/) for all your stay in Arusha based on your travel itinerary. You will be able to check in from 10:00 a.m. If you arrive earlier your room may be ready but we cannot guarantee this, you will need to negotiate with a receptionist. You are on full Board, meaning that your will be covered for your bed and breakfast, lunch and dinner. You will be responsible for any additional items (e.g. telephone calls, drinks from the bar, laundry, etc.)

The Epihack meeting will take place at the

1. On Monday, December 8th:

Dinner will be served at Mount Meru Hotel.

All participants will be travelling to Ngorongoro for fieldwork activities. The Hotel will provide packed lunch for all participants travelling to Ngorongoro. All vehicles will be leaving at 06:00 a.m. The dinner will be served at Mount Meru Hotel.

All participants will have dinner at Snow Crest Hotel (http://www.snowcresthotel.com/). Transport will be arranged to take you to the Snow Crest Hotel from Mount Meru hotel.

All participants will have dinner at S.G Premium Hotel (http://sg-resort-arusha.hotel-rn.com/). Transport will be arranged to move participants to this hotel.

Closing day of the meeting. Participants will dine at Mount Meru Hotel.

The Ngorongoro Conservation Area is a vast area with altitude ranging from 1009 to 3645m (3310-11959ft). The mornings are still cold. Afternoon temperatures are usually around 23°C/73°F. On the crater floor while night temperatures are around 6°C/43°F on the crater rim. There is chance for freezing temperatures. However, we can assure you that you will not be disappointed as Ngorongoro is the ‘Eden of Africa’- you will enjoy seeing a good mix of the majority of small, medium and large wild animals with domestic livestock and the pastoral Maasai people living in harmony naturally. We advise to have some warm clothing with you as well as field attire when we visit Ngorongoro. Remember also that, although we have a good tarmac road from Arusha to Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) entrance gate, the roads within NCA are unmade and sometimes dusty; if possible we recommend putting on sports shoes (tennis shoes, runners etc.) so that you are comfortable throughout the day.

There is no immediate threat of Ebola in Tanzania. Authorities in Tanzania are nonetheless taking the risk seriously and have put in place measures to mitigate any potential threat: from airport screening and setting up of isolation centres to training for medical workers. If you have travelled to affected countries in the past three weeks then we advise you to seek advice and to inform us so that we can assess the risk to other participants. If you would like to know more about the outbreak, you can visit the WHO site here: http://www.who.int/ith/updates/20140421/en/

NB: If you get sick while in Arusha, the Hotel has doctors on call; please request them through the reception.

              International Dialling code: +255

              Climate: Arusha whether is currently moderate experiencing weather as low as 
16oC.

              Main touristic attractions: Serengeti National Park, Ngorongoro Crater, Mount 
Kilimanjaro, Mount Meru and Zanzibar. For those who are interested to explore Tanzania after EpiHack, please visit the following links for more details; http://www.northerncircuitadventure.com/parks.html http://www.zanzibar.net/zanzibar/touring_zanzibar http://www.tanzaniaparks.com/ http://www.mountkilimanjaroguide.com/meru-and-kilimanjaro.html

Anita Kabwogi
Telephone: 0713460337
Email: anita.kabwogi@sacids.org SACIDS