Where's Tanzania?

When I started telling people that I was going to volunteer at an NGO called Give a Heart to Africa (GHTA) in Moshi, Tanzania the first question everyone asked me is, Where's Tanzania?  So here's the answer to that question...and more.

Tanzania is in East Africa and borders many countries with names most would recognize like Kenya, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, and Rwanda.  It also borders some lesser known countries like Burundi, Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia. The far east border of Tanzania is the Indian Ocean.

It's a fairly new country, created in 1964 by the merging of Tanganyika (you might have heard of the lake by the same name) and Zanzibar (an island off the coast), a successful merger of Christian and Muslim cultures. It has a parliamentary government with an elected president.  It is relatively safe and stable.

Even though you might not think you know anything about Tanzania...you do.  It's where Mt. Kilimanjaro is (I actually fly into Mt. Kilimanjaro airport). It's home to Lake Victoria, the largest lake in Africa.  It's also the home of many national parks including the Serengeti.  It's where the wildebeest migration takes place each year.  There are lions, elephants, rhinoceros, and hippopotamus in the parks.  And it's where Jane Goodall studied chimps (the Jane Goodall Institute is still in operation there).  So you've probably seen pictures of Tanzania hundreds of times and just didn't realize it.

The climate where I will be in Moshi is warm during the day (in the 80s) and cool at night (in the 60s).  I will be there during one of the rainy seasons (but not the really bad one...I hope!).  In any case I have my rain boots packed!  And the language the people speak is Swahili (called Kiswahili there). 

I will end with a piece of trivia...Freddie Mercury of the group Queen was from Tanzania (Zanzibar).  His real name was Farrokh Bulsara!