Tanzania

Tanzania, a beautiful and friendly country.

Tanzania is bordered on the south by Mozambique, Malawi, and Zambia; on the west by Zaire, Burundi, and Rwanda; on the north by Uganda and Kenya; and on the east by the Indian Ocean. Tanzania is the largest of the East African nations, and it possesses a geography as mythic as it is spectacular.

Tanzania’s geography contains a great variety of landscapes, unique in the world. Flat on the coast, the geography includes a large plateau covering the centre of the country, mountains and volcanoes in the western country. Its highest point is Mount Kilimanjaro (5’895 m), which is also the highest point of Africa. 53’000 km2 of the total area is water (for comparison the total area of Switzerland is 41’285 km2). On the north is Lake Victoria, on the Kenya–Uganda–Tanzania border. This is the largest lake in Africa (69’490 km2) and is the source of the Nile river. It covers 49% of Tanzania’s territory. In the west, separating Tanzania from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is Lake Tanganyika, which covers 41% of Tanzania’s territory. This lake is the deepest lake in Africa (1’470 deep). It is 673 km long and 50 km wide. Tanzania is an outstanding place for Safaris with one of the largest and wildest animal populations. National parks and reserves cover 33’660 km2, 28% of the total area of Tanzania. The Serengeti Park is 14’763 km2 and is one of the greatest places to observe wildlife. The Selous Game Reserve is larger than Switzerland and covers 1/6 of the total area of Tanzania. It is one of the largest fauna reserves of the world with a larger number of elephants than in any other African game reserves. The Selous was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982 due to the diversity of its wildlife and undisturbed nature.