GEOGRAPHY
Tanzania covers 937,062 sq km making it the largest country in Eastern Africa. Just south of the equator, it borders Kenya and Uganda in the north; the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Burundi in the west; and Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique in the south, and is therefore a splendid centre from which to explore eastern, central and southern Africa. Through the interior runs the Great Rift Valley, that vast fault line down the spine of Africa that, in Tanzania, has created many fascinating topographical features such as the Ngorongoro Crater and Lake Tanganyika. The central plateau (1,200m above sea level) is a huge expanse of savannah and sparse woodland. To the north, the
5,890-metre (19,340 ft) Mount Kilimanjaro rises, the highest mountain in Africa. While the interior is largely arid, the 800 kilometre coastline is lush and palm-fringed as are the islands of Zanzibar, Pemba and Mafia.