These Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) have been designed to comply with the instructions issued by the Tanzanian Government and the World Health Organization, while the company carries out its day-to-day operations as a provider of safari and other trips. The objective of these SOPs is to allow Twende Africa Tours’s guests and staff to enjoy maximum protection during the time of the COVID-19 period, while also helping Tanzania to limit the spread of COVID-19 in the country. Twende Africa Tours acknowledges that it has a duty to communicate the applicable Tanzanian regulations to its booking agencies, and to remind both its staff and guests of all relevant protective and preventative practices.
1. Designated COVID-19 Liaison Officer:
Twende Africa Tours will appoint a COVID-19 Liaison Officer, based at the company’s Head Office. This designated person will be the point of contact with the relevant Tanzanian Government Ministry. In addition, this officer will have the following responsibilities:
STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES FOR COVID-19
These Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) have been designed to comply with the instructions issued by the Tanzanian Government and the World Health Organization, while the company carries out its day-to-day operations as a provider of safari and other trips. The objective of these SOPs is to allow Twende Africa Tours’s guests and staff to enjoy maximum protection during the time of the COVID-19 period, while also helping Tanzania to limit the spread of COVID-19 in the country. Twende Africa Tours acknowledges that it has a duty to communicate the applicable Tanzanian regulations to its booking agencies, and to remind both its staff and guests of all relevant protective and preventative practices.
1. Designated COVID-19 Liaison Officer:
Twende Africa Tours will appoint a COVID-19 Liaison Officer, based at the company’s Head Office. This designated person will be the point of contact with the relevant Tanzanian Government Ministry. In addition, this officer will have the following responsibilities:
2. Guests’ Medical Declaration Form:
All guests will be required by Twende Africa Tours to complete a compulsory Medical Declaration Form. A form must be completed for each individual guest and this will be sent to each guest by our Health and Safety Department, one month prior to the guest’s arrival in Tanzania. The form will be completed and signed and will include the following information for each guest:
3. Temperature Monitoring of Guests and Staff:
Temperatures of all guests will be taken on arrival, at the start of their Twende Africa Tours trip. (Depending on the method and place of arrival, this might be at the airport, or hotel, or other appropriate location.) Temperatures of guests will then be taken each day after breakfast, for the duration of the guest’s stay, by the driver-guide. On each occasion, a non-contact thermometer will be used and the temperature will be recorded. Any temperature of 37.5 C or above requires action. For staff, temperatures will be taken each time they begin a shift or finish a shift: a non-contact thermometer will be used and all temperatures will be recorded.
In the event that a guest or staff member registers a temperature of 37.5 C or above, the procedures described in section 9, below, must be followed immediately.
4. Staff Training:
Twende Africa Tours is committed to providing comprehensive training for its entire staff in respect of COVID-19, its effects and the measures necessary to detect it prevent its spread and deal with it whenever it arises. Twende Africa Tours is also committed to provide further training, as and when necessary, as the COVID-19 situation develops and evolves. Additional, specific training may be required for certain staff depending on the type of work they perform or the locations in which they work, but the following general areas of COVID-19 training are appropriate to all Twende Africa Tours staff:
5. PPE (Personal Protective Equipment):
Guests must wear a mask at all times, with the following exceptions:
Twende Africa Tours will carry a stock of spare masks, to provide to guests if they do not have their own. Each guest will be given three approved cloth masks per trip, free of charge. Additional masks can be purchased by guests, if required. Masks of the disposable variety must be properly disposed of in biohazard containers. They must be replaced after each meal.
Staff must wear masks at all times, except when eating and drinking. Twende Africa Tours will be responsible for providing an adequate supply of masks, either of the disposable variety or approved cloth masks, with a minimum of three cloth masks (if used) for each staff member. This allows the staff member to wear a mask, have another mask being laundered and the third one as a spare one ready for the following working day. For certain specific tasks, gloves may be required: separate advice will be provided on this. The disposal of all PPE must be carried out in compliance with all relevant Tanzanian Health and Safety regulations.
6. Sanitizing & Hygiene Practices:
Proper frequent hand-washing and sanitizing, together with the thorough and regular/frequent sanitizing of surfaces, are hugely important in preventing the spread of COVID-19. This applies both to guests and staff. Staff members who use surfaces such as desks, computers, counters etc are responsible for sanitizing these every 15 minutes, or each time after their use by another person.
6.1. Hands.
Guests will be required to sanitize their hands on arrival at any establishment – such as accommodation - or on boarding any vehicle. Twende Africa Tours will be responsible for providing appropriate sanitizer for guests at all its locations and vehicles. Individual bottles of sanitizer will be provided to each guest and should be used after they have handled any surface or handled cash, luggage, food and drink.
6.2. Luggage.
Staff handling luggage should sanitize their hands immediately before and after doing so.
6.3. Handling cash.
Wherever possible, guests should make payments without using cash. If this is unavoidable, then any guest or staff member handling cash should sanitize their hands immediately afterwards.
6.4. Minimizing contact with surfaces.
Wherever possible, objects which are non-essential should be removed from locations and vehicles to minimize contact by guests and staff. Examples of these might be magazines, books and newspapers, games and ‘softs’ such as cushions, rugs, blankets etc. Where these are then provided on request by guests, they should be sanitized both before and after use by the guest.
7. Physical Distancing & Capacity controls:
Physical Distancing measures play a vital part in helping to prevent the spread of COVID- 19. Twende Africa Tours strives to keep a distance of 1.5 meters between persons in public and back- of-house areas, though 2 meters is preferable. For guests, this minimum distance should be maintained in all arrival and departure areas, at picnic sites, park entrances, game drives, shops, viewpoints and at attractions such as the Olduvai Gorge Centre. Staff should also maintain the recommended distance at these places, but also in the Twende Africa Tours Head Office, vehicle workshop and other work areas.
With respect to safari vehicles, family groups or small groups of friends travelling together can share one vehicle.
Staff must be vigilant at areas where crowds may gather such as visitor attractions, viewpoints, village tours or restaurants and ensure that a build-up of people in an enclosed space does not threaten the requirements of physical distancing measures. It may be necessary on occasion to temporarily restrict access of guests to such places to achieve this.
8. Vehicle Cleaning:
Special attention must be paid to safari vehicles, as guests spend much time in close contact with each other and the vehicles contain many surfaces with which both guests and staff come into close contact. The following procedures should be followed:
9. Office Staff:
In general, the requirements of this Standard Operating Procedure will apply to office-based staff.
Wherever it is practicable, office-based staff will be encouraged to work at home. Twende Africa Tours will put measures in place within the office to limit the number of staff working in the office at anyone time, through staff rotas which stagger the staff shifts. Physical distancing measures will also be put in place to separate staff, with Perspex screens installed wherever possible between workstations. Desks, phones, computers, headsets and other equipment will be dedicated to each individual, with no sharing or hot-desking.
Any superfluous surfaces should be taped off or removed, to minimize contact. All surfaces will be regularly sanitized.
Staff will be encouraged to sanitize their hands frequently throughout the day and sanitizer will be provided by Twende Africa Tours to enable this.
The office will be ventilated as much as possible, either by open windows or air- conditioning.
10. Guests or Staff Who Display COVID-19 Symptoms:
For the areas in which Twende Africa Tours operates, contact details of designated approved hospitals, medical clinics, mobile clinics, doctors, testing centres and pharmacies in Tanzania for the testing and treatment of COVID-19 should be clearly displayed in all locations and vehicles operated by Twende Africa Tours. All staff should be made aware of these during their training. Also as part of their training, all Twende Africa Tours staff should be made familiar with basic procedures to follow in the event of a guest or colleague displaying COVID-19 symptoms. However, the COVID-19 Liaison Officer should be designated at all times to be responsible for coordinating and managing Twende Africa Tours’s response to any guest or staff member who displays symptoms or registers a high temperature, or indeed a positive test result.
A test should be carried out without delay for any guest or staff member exhibiting symptoms. This then allows the Twende Africa Tours operation to continue safely as soon as possible.
10.1 Guests displaying symptoms on arrival, but before pick-up/check in:
Any guest displaying symptoms on arrival should be requested to return home and follow their own country’s advice when they do so. If symptoms on arrival are severe, however, a doctor should be consulted without delay.
Twende Africa Tours will assist in facilitating the guest’s return home.
In the event that a return home is not possible, the guest must be isolated in a COVID-19 isolation unit or designated COVID-19 hotel room.
Any vehicle used in the transport of any such guest must be thoroughly deep-cleaned after use.
10.2 Monitoring of clients with symptoms:
Any guest with COVID-19 symptoms should, wherever possible, be isolated in a single- occupancy room with a private bathroom and attended to by designated staff wearing full PPE (eye protectors/visors, gowns and disposable, single-use gloves which must be disposed of after each contact.) Any non-essential items should be removed from the isolation room, to minimize contact.
The guest will not be allowed to leave the room, and meals will be served in the room. In the vent that the guest’s symptoms are severe, get worse or last for more than a day, a doctor should be consulted.
Depending on the doctor’s assessment, the guest will be sent for a COVID-19 test, recommended to continue the period of isolation, or sent to be admitted to a hospital.
Any vehicle in which the guest has travelled must be deep-cleaned and decontaminated.
If Twende Africa Tours is notified through tracing that a past guest has subsequently tested positive for COVID-19, then vehicles or other areas used by that guest must be decontaminated.
Any vehicle which has been used to transport a guest who has shown symptoms or been confirmed as having had COVID-19 can, if possible, be left unused for between 5 and 7 days before being deep-cleaned and decontaminated. The vehicle should not be accessed by anyone during that period.
All waste materials which have been used in taking care of, serving (with drinks, meals etc) or cleaning areas used by those who have shown symptoms must be disposed of in biohazard disposal bags or containers. These must also be used for the disposal of all PPE used by either staff or guests.
Any staff or fellow travelers who have been in contact with any guest who has tested positive for COVID-19 must themselves self-isolate for 14 days either at home or in a designated establishment.
10.3 Dealing with Staff in the COVID-19 Era:
All staff should be tested both for COVID-19 and antibodies before they return to work, if possible. Any staff member testing positive must self-isolate for 14 days before they can return to work (see diagram, below). This self-isolation should take place at home. The COVID-19 Liaison Officer should monitor the progress of the staff member who is self- isolating, on a regular basis.
The COVID-19 Liaison Officer or senior person on duty is responsible for dealing with any staff member displaying symptoms. No staff member displaying symptoms will be allowed to start a shift, and ideally should not be allowed to enter the workplace. The diagram below demonstrates the process for dealing with staff members displaying symptoms. Where testing is available, this should be carried out.
If any staff member tests positive, all staff that have been on the same shift as that staff member must self-isolate for 14 days. If testing is widely available, then all staff should ideally be tested. Any staff who test negative, or who have successfully self-isolated for 14 days, may return to work.
The Twende Africa Tours COVID-19 Liaison Officer must carry out an investigation into the compliance and procedures, to identify whether these have in any way been deficient in respect of the returning employee’s working environment. This investigation must be documented, and any recommendations must be acted upon without delay.
11. Safari Vehicles:
Certain procedures and practices apply specifically to any vehicles used by Twende Africa Tours, whether for safari trips or for transfers to or from airports or for example, trips to or from Mount Kilimanjaro. These procedures and practices are in addition to the general ones specified elsewhere in this document: please pay particular attention to Section 7, Vehicle Cleaning.
All vehicles must be fully sanitized before each trip, to include seats, handles, door locks, windows, floor, roof, sockets, seat belts and headrests. Additionally, in-vehicle equipment such as binoculars, guidebooks, dining utensils etc. should also be sanitized.
Throughout the duration of the trip, door handles and other frequently touched surfaces should be regularly and frequently wiped throughout the day.
Only the Twende Africa Tours driver-guide is authorized to sanitize the vehicle and this must be done before use and every time the vehicle returns to the lodge or camp. Travelling with open windows, where this is safe, is to be encouraged.
While at the airport or airstrip, our driver guides will wear a face mask and gloves, disposing of the gloves when entering the vehicle. They will also require guests’ permission before assisting with their luggage.
Guests should be each issued with their own binoculars and drinking vessels and these should not be shared. Guest should be encouraged to enter and exit vehicles one at a time, avoiding contact with seat backs, headrests etc. Disposable headrest covers should be replaced after each trip.
Driver-guides should avoid turning and shouting in the directions of guests.
12. Mountain Climbing Operators:
The following procedures apply to Twende Africa Tours’s climbing trips, in addition to the general SOPs where appropriate.
Peter was an excellent, friendly, and knowledgeable guide. I did the 6 day Machame tour with comfort.
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Peter Kinyaiya is an excellent guide. He lead our group of porters and trekkers up the Machame.
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It was an awesome trekking trip. My friends and I took Machame Route. I was very impressed with the beauty.
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My friends and I were on the week of Kilimanjaro Marathon, some of our group run full marthon.
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Machame Route We enjoyed every meter of this tour. Only the summit night was very hard.
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