Tanzania National Parks

Between Africa's highest mountain (Kilimanjaro) and Africa's largest lake (Victoria) lies one of the best game-viewing areas on the continent. This region also includes the world's largest unflooded intact volcanic caldera or crater (Ngorongoro) and the most famous wildlife park (the Serengeti). To the south lies one of the world's largest game reserves — the Selous.

Volcanic highlands dominate the north, giving way south¬ward to a plateau, then semidesert in the center of the country and highlands in the south. The coastal lowlands are hot and humid with lush vegetation. One branch of the Great Rift Valley passes through Lakes Manyara and Natron in northern Tanzania to Lake Malawi (Lake Nyasa) in the south while the other branch passes through Lakes Rukwa and Tanganyika in the west.

Heavy rains usually occur in April and May, and lighter rains in late October and November. Altitude has a great effect on temperature. At Arusha (4600 ft./1390 m.) and the top of Ngorongoro Crater (7500 ft./2285 m.) nights and early morn¬ings are especially cool. Tanzania's highest temperatures occur in December-March and lowest in July.

Evidence suggests East Africa was the cradle of mankind. The earliest known humanoid footprints, estimated to be 3.5 million years old, were discovered at Laetoli by Dr. Mary Leakey in 1979. Dr. Leakey also found the estimated 1.7 million-year-old skull Zinjanthropus boisei at Olduvai Gorge in 1957.

By the thirteenth century Arabs, Persians, Egyptians, Indians and Chinese were involved in heavy trading on the coast. Slave trade began in the mid-1700s and was abolished in 1873.

British Explorers Richard Burton and John Speke crossed Tanzania in 1857 to Lake Tanganyika. Speke later discovered Lake Victoria which he felt was the source of the Nile.

The German East Africa Company gained control of the mainland (then called German East Africa) in 1885, and the German government held it from 1891 until World War I when it was mandated to Britain by the League of Nations. Tanganyika gained its independence from Britain in 1961, and Zanzibar gained its independence in 1963. Zanzibar, once the center of the East African slave trade, was ruled by sultans until its union with Tanganyika in 1964, forming the United Republic of Tanzania.

There are 120 tribes in Tanzania. Bantu languages and dialects are spoken by 95 percent of the population, with Kiswahili the official and national language. Over 75 percent of the people are peasant farmers. The export of coffee, cotton, sisal, tea, cloves and cashews bring 70 percent of the country's foreign exchange.