About Tanzania
Country Location
Tanzania is located in Eastern Africa between longitude 290 and 10 East. Latitude 10 and 120 South.
Most Northerly point: Bukoba 10 South Latitude
Most Southerly point: Mtalika 120 South latitude
Most Westerly point: Kigoma 290 East of Greenwhich
Most easterly point: Mtwara 410 East of Greenwhich
Tanzania has frontier to the following countries:
North : Kenya and Uganda
West: Rwanda, Burundi and Democratic Republic of Congo
South: Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique
East: Indian Ocean
Geographical Features
Tanzania is the largest of the East African countries (i.e. Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania). Has a spectacular landscape of mainly three physiographic regions namely the Islands and the coastal plains to the east; the inland saucer-shaped plateau; and the highlands. The Great Rift Valley that runs from north east of Africa through central Tanzania is another landmark that adds to the scenic view of the country. The rift valley runs to south of Tanzania spliting at Lake Nyasa; one branch runs down beyond Lake Nyasa to Mozambique; and another branch to north-west alongside Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania and western part of Uganda. The valley is dotted with unique lakes which include Lakes Rukwa, Tanganyika, Nyasa, Kitangiri, Eyasi and Manyara. The uplands includes the famous Kipengere, Udzungwa, Matogoro, Livingstone, and the Fipa plateau forming the southern highlands. The Usambara, Pare, Meru, Kilimanjaro, the Ngorongoro Crater and the Oldonyo Lengai, all form the northern highlands. From these highlands and the central saucer plateau flow the drainage system to the Indian Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean sea and the inland drainage system.
Mountain Summits: (metres above sea level)
Mount Kilimanjaro 5,895
Mount Meru 4,566
Mount Rungwe 2,960
Uluguru Mountains 2,648
Rubeho Mountains 2,576
Livingstone Mountains 2,521
Mbizi Mountain 2,418
Mahari Mountain 2,373
Climate:
Tanzania has a tropical type of climate. In the highlands, temperatures range between 100c and 200c.during cold and hot seasons respectively. The rest of the country has temperatures never falling lower than 200c. The hottest period spreads between November and February (250c - 310c) while the coldest period occurs between May and August (150c - 200c).
Two rainfall regimes exist over Tanzania. One is unimodal (December - April) and the other is bimodal (October -December and March - May). The former is experienced in southern, south-west, central and western parts of the country, and the later is found to the north and northern coast.
In the bimodal regime the March - May rains are referred to as the long rains or Masika, whereas the October - December rains are generally known as short rains or Vuli.