The coastal plains give way to the eastern plateaus followed by the eastern rift valley. Next are the central plateau, southen highlands, and finally  the western rift valley. It is amoang these features that the country harbours the highest  mountain in Africa- Kilimanjaro ( 5895 M ). The other mountains include meru ( 4572 M ), Usambara, Uluguru, Rubeho,. Udzungwa, Kipengere, Rungwe, Livingstone and Oldonyolengai. Tanzania has aldso several rivers and lakes. The rivers include the great ruaha, malagarasi, kagera, ruvuma, pangani, ruvu and wami. On the other hand the major lakes are Victoria, Tanganyika,, Nyasa, Rukwa, Natron Eyasi  and Manyara. The rolling savannah grasslands, the miombo woodlands and mountain forests and other features, have become the center of attraction, where visitors and in particular foreigners who are tired of the hustle and bustle of Europe, and clad in the scantiest of attire, take it easy among th local residents. With over 120 tribes scattered all over the country, the cultured is rich and diverse.

CLIMATE:-
Although so near the equator, the effect of its tropical situation is greatly mitigrated, over the greater part of it, by the cooling influence of altitude. While most of it is not so temperate as the greater part of Kenya, very little is humidly hot as central of democratic republic of congo.

It is a land of tremendous variety and can not be called typical  tropical.A large part of the country is subject to the influence of monsoon winds: the north-east monsoon during the period of of October/ November  to January, and the south- east monsoon for the greater part of the rest of the year.,
Climatically, Tanzania is divided into three zones termed north coastal belt, an area about 160 kilometers wide extending from dare s salaam north wards to the Kenyan border.

The second is the lake area, and area within approximately 80 kilometers of the shores of lake Victoria, and thirdly, the interior plateau which constitutes the remainder of the country and includes the coastal area south of dares salaam.

The temperature varies from 15c  in the southern highlands and Kilimanjaro regions to 30c in the east coast. Dar es salaam and the coastal plains are hot but pleasant.The evenings are mostly cool, especially from may to October when the climate is superb.Intermittent rains are experienced from December to may.however in many parts of the country short rains occur in November and December and long rains from march to may.

INDEPENDENCE:
Tanzania is a union republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar.Zanzibar was declared a british colony from 1891 to 1918 when it was occupied by the Britain during the first world war.After the war Tanganyika was mandated to Britain by the league of nations. In 1946 it was placed under the united nations trusteeship

council.Tanganyika achived her independence on December 9, 1961 while became independent on December 10, 1963. The united republic became effective on April 26, 1964 and the name of Tanzania was adopted  on October 29, 1964. The country became a member of the united nations organization ( UNO) on November 1, founder member of the organization of African Unity ( OAU) in 1963.

CAPITAL CITY
Dodoma which some 500 kilometers west of Dar es salaam is the new capital of Tanzania. Dar es salaam is the commercial center  having a population of about 3.5 million people.
Other important towns include Tanga, Arusha, Mwanza, Mbeya and Zanzibar which  have a number  of bothe light and heavy industries.

LANGUAGES
Though Tanzania  has moiré than 120 different tribes, there is only  one common language: Kiswahili. Kiswahili is also being spoken in neighbouring countries e.g   Kenya Uganda, Somalia, democratic republic of congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Zambia and Mozambique.
This is the official language in Tanzania and English is the most popular  of the foreign languages and is also used officially in higher institutions of learning and as communication medium with the outside world.

GENERAL INFORMATION
Tanzania can be reached by two main ways: By air and by sea.There are three international airports namely: Dar es salaam, Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar where a number of international airlines land. A fouth international airport is being developed at songwe in Mbeya region.

Some of the reputable airlines coming to Tanzania include: Ethiopian airlines, KLM, Lufthansa, Airfrance,  British airways, Egypt Air, Gulf air, Aeroflot, South  Africa Airways ( SAA) and many others.
Most of these airlines land at Kilimanjaro and Dar es salaam international airports for connections and for airlines of their choice, visitors are advised to consult their travel agencies.

The harbours are at Dar  es salaam where a bulk of goods for Eastern, central and southern African countries is handled. The others are Zanzibar, Tanga and mtwara, all along the coast.

While in Tanzania there are a lot of things to buy and many places of interest to visit.For istance in Tanzania “ Arts and crafts” have developed and evolved through the centuries.many modern artists still employ traditional techniques, materials and images, while others are involved in using newer forms of expression, or combine new and old elements.

Thus, One can find a wide variety of styles and media reflective of the reachness of Tanzania culture. The “makonde carvings” depict one of the many styles  and images which  are now world famous.

Dar es salaam- the “ Haven of peace”, has a number of interesting  places to visit. There is  the national museum  which is situated in the botanical gardens not far from the city centre. The museum houses many important archeological collections, especially the fossil discoveries of the Zinjanthropus boisei.

CONSERVATIONS AREAS

Our wildlife is described a unique in abundance and variety and is the wonder and envy of the rest of the world.
A quarter of Tanzania is devoted to national parks, Game reserves and  “ No shooting areas”. The country possesses  some of the finest game areas in the world with almost every species  of African game.

The most spectacular of all the game sanctuaries is the Serengeti, where about 1.5 million wilderbeest, 0.5 million Thomson gazelle and 0.25 zebra track more than 14,763 square kilometers of African savannah. Hundreds of thousands of other large herbivores of more than 30 species stock the beautiful grassland.

Then there is the neighbouring ngorongoro conservation area whose crater is heavily stocked with a high diversity of wildlife, while the rim and the adjacent land is open for multipurpose use especially livestock by the resident maasai.

In the southern part of the country there is the famous selous game reserve, the largest in Africa ( 55,000 square kilometers)  and second only to the world buffalo national park of northern Canada, in the whole world. Here are about 650,000 large mammals with a population density of 13 animals per square kilometer. It is unique in size, its state of naturalness and variety of genetic and ecological resource.

It is the first and last natural wilderness. A score of more including Lake manyara national park, Tarangire national park, Arusha national park,  Katavi national park, Ruaha national park, Mikumi national park , Udzungwa mountain national park … Boast of wildlife numbers and scenic beauty.

No country would afford to neglect or ignore the conservation of such natural resource.It is even more of a cardinal sin for a developing country such as  Tanzania with very limited natural resources to exploit to depletion or to tamper with such gifts endowed to them by nature, and especially wildlife so cheap to maintain and yet extremely important.

As such, from president down, Tanzanians have a commitment to preserve wildlife at all cost and on a priority basis, even at the expenses of some other goals.

Where as  in developed countries, people think and look with great esteem  and pride at their modern cities, skyscrapers, the  industrial areas and sites  where natural resources have been depleted, in Tanzania we have unique and wonderful natural heritage of myriads of wildlife to boast.

It has not only been the subject of much valuable scientific study, but has inspired many great  artists all over the world.

All outstanding wonders of nature wherever they may be, are not just the heritage of the countries in which they are located. They are of immeasurable value, surely to all mankind, and therefore, the countries that possess this living treasure are custodians of the world for all  time.

Most African countries have not spared their wildlife. Fires, poaching, logging, settlement, the wholesale extermination of wildlife under the pretext of eliminating  endemic deseases and vermin have all contributed to the serious depletion of this once so  abundant a resource.

Although man may be considered the the most enolved of the living creatures because of his technical and artistic achievements, he is nonetheless the  most destructive creature.

By his reckless exploitation of the natural wealth for  short sighted economic purpose, he has upset the delicate ecological balance of nature and he is responsible for the extinction of many animal and vegetable species.

Tanzania spends on an average four per cent of its national budget on conservation. This figure  could be the highest in the world. In wildlife management, research and teaching programmes, the government places much greatr emphasis on  conservation and far less on sport hunting or the direct utilization of anilals, for their skins for example.

Thus the word “game” has beem replaced by “ wildlife” in all official dealings, as a gesture of respect for  the living resources being conserved. Tanzania has taken a stock of its laws, regulations and institutions relating to wildlife and has strengthened them over the past years.

Conservation is being fostered in a broad sense, educating the public on the subject through  films, slides radio and TV Programmes and the press.
Young people are being urged to form wildlife conservation clubs in schools, colleges and universities. A wildlife protection force has been formed.