Frequently Asked Questions
Everything about how Xenohuru works — our data sources, ethics, community, costs, and how you can get involved.
About Xenohuru
Xenohuru is a free, open-source Tanzania travel and tourism platform. We aggregate accurate, GPS-verified information about Tanzania's national parks, attractions, regions, wildlife, weather, and travel logistics — and make it freely accessible to travellers, researchers, and developers worldwide.
The name Xenohuru combines xeno (Greek: foreign, traveller) and huru (Swahili: free). It reflects our mission: free, open information for those who travel — and for those who call Tanzania home.
Xenohuru was founded and is led by a Tanzanian developer with a mission to build the internet's most accurate, open Tanzania travel resource. The platform is open-source — the code, data structure, and content pipeline are all public on GitHub.
Content, data, and code contributions come from a growing community of travellers, developers, wildlife enthusiasts, and Tanzanians who want accurate information about their country to exist online.
No. Xenohuru is not a tour operator and does not sell tours, safaris, bookings, or travel packages. We are an information platform — think of us as an open Wikipedia for Tanzania travel, not a booking agency.
Yes — 100% free, forever. No account required, no paywalls, no premium tiers. All attraction data, maps, weather information, and travel guides are freely accessible. See our Support Us page.
How We Collect Data
Our data is compiled from multiple authoritative sources:
- →Official government sources: TANAPA, NCAA, TAWA, and Tanzania Tourism Board.
- →Academic and scientific sources: IUCN Red List conservation status, peer-reviewed ecology research, and university field studies.
- →On-the-ground verification: GPS coordinates and operational details verified by community contributors with direct knowledge of each location.
- →Open databases: OpenStreetMap geographic data, Wikidata, and other open knowledge bases where licensing permits.
- ·Weather data: Refreshed hourly from open meteorological sources.
- ·Entry fees and park hours: Reviewed quarterly or when a community contributor flags a change.
- ·Wildlife and conservation status: Reviewed annually using the latest IUCN Red List and TANAPA census data.
- ·Attraction descriptions and photos: Updated as community contributions are reviewed and approved.
No. We do not use AI to fabricate attraction descriptions, wildlife facts, or travel information. Every fact on Xenohuru is sourced from a verifiable reference. We may use AI to assist with formatting or summarisation of verified source material — but the underlying data always traces to a citable, real-world source.
We make every effort to keep fees accurate, but Tanzania's national park fees are set by TANAPA and can change without notice. Always confirm directly with tanzaniaparks.go.tz before travelling.
Data Security & Ethical Use
We collect minimal data:
- ·Standard server logs (IP, page, timestamp) — retained 30 days for security only.
- ·Contact form submissions — stored solely to respond to you.
- ·IP geolocation for weather auto-detect — processed in memory, not stored.
- ·We do not use tracking pixels, ad networks, or behavioural analytics. No account required.
Our Terms of Use explicitly prohibit:
- ✗Using wildlife location data to facilitate poaching, illegal hunting, or wildlife trafficking.
- ✗Using attraction or operator data for fraud, impersonation, or commercial deception.
- ✗Scraping or re-publishing data in ways that violate CC BY 4.0 attribution requirements.
- →Platform source code: MIT Licence — free to use, modify, and distribute with attribution.
- →Attraction data and written content: Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 — free to use with attribution to "Xenohuru".
- →Photos: Sourced from Unsplash under the Unsplash Licence — free for commercial and non-commercial use.
- ·All endpoints served over HTTPS with TLS 1.2+ encryption.
- ·Read-only public endpoints require no authentication — consistent with our open-data mission.
- ·Write operations require rate limiting and human verification to prevent spam.
- ·API abuse beyond fair use is rate-limited and blocked.
Citations & Sources
For academic or professional citations, use the following format:
- →Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA) — Park boundaries, fees, wildlife census
- →Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCAA) — Ngorongoro-specific data
- →Tanzania Tourism Board (TTB) — Official tourism statistics
- →IUCN Red List — Conservation status for all wildlife species
- →Tanzania Meteorological Authority — Historical climate data
- →OpenStreetMap — Geographic boundaries and roads (ODbL licence)
- →Unsplash — Photography (Unsplash Licence)
Yes. Every photo on Xenohuru is sourced from Unsplash under the Unsplash Licence, which permits free use for commercial and non-commercial purposes without attribution requirements. We never use images scraped from other websites or stock photo sites with restrictive licences.
Community & Contributions
- →Report a data error: Found an outdated entry fee or wrong GPS coordinate? Use the contact form or open a GitHub issue.
- →Submit a review: Visited an attraction? Leave a review directly on the attraction page.
- →Contribute to the codebase: The full platform is open-source. Open a pull request on GitHub.
- →Write for the blog: Pitch Tanzania guides, wildlife articles, or regional explainers.
- →Sponsor the project: Cover hosting and development costs through our sponsor programme.
- ·GitHub — Code discussions, issues, and pull requests
- ·Substack — Long-form guides and project updates
- ·Contact / Email — Reach the core team directly
- ·Data corrections are cross-checked against at least one official or verifiable source.
- ·User reviews are checked for spam and policy violations before appearing publicly.
- ·Code contributions are reviewed by maintainers for security and performance via GitHub pull request.
- ·Blog submissions are edited for factual accuracy and writing quality before publishing.
Development & Sustainability
Total: ~$33–85 / month — sustained entirely by community sponsorship.
35%
Hosting & infrastructure
25%
API services & data
25%
Feature development
15%
Content & research
We do not use sponsorship funds for salaries, marketing spend, or profit.
Xenohuru has no venture capital, no advertising revenue, and no commercial partnerships that influence editorial content. To keep the platform free and running, some pages surface curated tour listings from vetted providers — these are always clearly presented as travel options, never as paid promotions. The long-term sustainability model is community sponsorship, similar to how Wikipedia and OpenStreetMap operate.
Technical & Developer
- BackendDjango (full-stack, server-side templates)
- DatabasePostgreSQL
- FrontendDjango Templates + HTMX + Alpine.js + Tailwind CSS v4
- MapsLeaflet.js
- WeatherOpen-Meteo API (free, no account required)
- ImagesCloudinary CDN — WebP/AVIF delivery
- HostingDigitalOcean droplet
Yes. The Xenohuru public API is open and free for non-commercial use. Read-only endpoints for attractions, regions, blog posts, and weather require no authentication. Fair use applies — automated bulk scraping that impacts server performance is blocked.
API base URL: /api/v1/
Do not open a public GitHub issue for security vulnerabilities. Email us directly at hello@xenohuru.org with a description. We aim to respond within 48 hours and will credit responsible disclosure in our changelog.
Still have questions?
Can't find what you're looking for? Reach the team directly.