Tanzania Map

Tanzania occupies 945,087 km² of land and is the world’s 31st-largest country It is slightly more than twice the size of the U.S. state of California.

For the tourist, Tanzania has it all – the highest mountain in Africa – Mont Kilimanjaro, the Great lakes of Africa – lake Victoria (the largest lake) and lake Tanganyika (Afriac’s deppest lake, know of its unique species of fish). Central Tanzania comprises a large plateau, with plains and arable land. The eastern shore is hot and humid, with the island of Zanzibar lying just offshore.

Tanzania’s population is about 38,000,000, distributed rather unevenly across the country. The majority of the population is rural. Dar es Salaam is the largest city and is the commercial capital; Dodoma, located in the center of Tanzania is the new capital and houses the Union’s Parliament. Zanzibar Town houses the Zanzibar Parliament.

Tanzania has over 120 ethnic groups each with their own language. Things aren’t quite a complex as they first seem however, the majority of Tanzanians, including the large ethnic groups have Bantu origins. Groups of Nilotic or related origin include the nomadic Masai and the Luo, both of which are found in greater numbers in neighboring Kenya. Two small groups speak languages of the Khoisan family peculiar to the people of the kalahari in southern Africa. Cushitic-speaking peoples, originally from the Ethiopian highlands, reside in a few areas of Tanzania.

Fortunately, English is spoken fluently by most people you will meet. The offical language of the country though is Swahili.