13 Fun Facts About Tanzania

I lived in Tanzania leading Rustic Pathways programs for three years. When I lived in Tanzania, I lived in Dar es Salaam, the largest city and financial hub of Tanzania. Dar es Salaam, with a population of 6.5 million people, is the largest city in East Africa and the sixth-largest city overall in Africa. It’s a modern city with all the global conveniences, and offers easy access to the large mammals and tree climbing lions you want to see in the country.

I constantly marveled at the people, the natural wonders, the African animals, and of course, the food. Tanzania is the largest country in East Africa, about four times the size of the UK. The African country has almost every landscape, from cultivated land to mountain peaks to rainforest to arctic summits and alpine deserts.

Here are some key facts about Tanzania:

When Scott asked me to come up with ten fascinating and fun facts about Tanzania, I told him I needed more space. By the end of this article, you’ll be trading your pants in for a kanzu and kanga (traditional clothing for men and women in Tanzania). Let’s go!

1. Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania is the tallest mountain in Africa

No list of fun facts about Tanzania is complete without a discussion of Mount Kilimanjaro. Mount Kilimanjaro is a dormant volcano and the highest freestanding mountain in the world, at 19,341 feet (5,895 meters) above sea level. Kili has three volcanic cones: Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira. The Kilimanjaro region is a popular hiking and climbing destination and home to many popular Rustic Pathways programs.

Rustic Pathways travelers on their way to Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

2. Serengeti: The Tanzania National Park and a can’t miss

Serengeti National Park is Tanzania’s oldest and most popular park, and one of the best national parks in the world. It is the home of many famous African mammals and is linked to Kenya’s Masai Mara Game Reserve. The Serengeti has over 1.7 million wildebeest and about a million other animals. The park covers 11,583 square miles (30,000 square kilometers) and sits 3,020 to 6,070 feet (921 to 1,851 meters) above sea level.

Rustic Pathways travelers on a safari in the Serengeti

3. Tanzania’s wildlife diversity is the highest in the world per square mile

Tanzania has the highest concentration of wild game and grazing animals per square mile in the world. Native large mammals include great buffalo herds, wildebeest, zebras, giraffes, elephants, rhinos, lions, and leopards. Crocodiles and hippos live along riverbanks, and giant turtles are found off the coast. You might see the Masai giraffe, Tanzania’s national animal, and the grey crowned crane, Tanzania’s national bird.

During the Great Wildebeest Migration, over 1.5 million wildebeest, zebras, and gazelles move in a circular pattern around the Serengeti, following seasonal rains. A key part of this great migration, is crossing the Mara River, where the animals dodge crocodiles and other dangers.

4. Tanzania is home to the world’s largest volcanic depression, the Ngorongoro Crater

The Ngorongoro Crater, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is known for its unique ecology and high density of lions.

The Olduvai Gorge is a steep-sided ravine in the Great Rift Valley, about 30 miles long, located in the eastern Serengeti Plains within the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. This site in Northern Tanzania is a significant archaeological site key for understanding early human evolution. Mary and Louis Leakey, a British/Kenyan team, conducted significant excavations and research here in the 1950s and 1960s.

Ancient human bones, stone tools and animal remains were found. Gathering tools and animal remains in one area shows increasing social interactions, cohesion and communal activities. These signs suggest early humans were advancing!

5. Visit Tanzania. See climbing lions in trees

Lake Manyara National Park, located in Tanzania’s Arusha and Manyara regions, is famous for its tree-climbing lions. This unusual behavior might help lions avoid tsetse flies or catch a cool breeze.

Tanzania also has one of the largest elephant populations, especially in Selous Game Reserve, though they face threats from ivory poachers.

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6. The Gombe Stream National Park is small but mighty

The Gombe Stream National Park in the far west of Tanzania in the Kigoma district is the smallest national park in Tanzania, and only accessible by boat. It’s best known as the chimpanzee research sanctuary where Jane Goodall started her work.

Besides chimpanzees, Gombe Stream National Park has beachcomber olive baboons, red colobus, red-tailed monkeys, blue monkeys, bushpigs and vervet monkeys.

7. Tanzania has some really great lakes

Lake Victoria, which borders Uganda and Kenya, is also one of the largest lakes in the world, behind the Caspian Sea and Lake Superior.

Lake Tanganyika, which is shared by Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, and Zambia is the sixth largest lake in the world. Lake Tanganyika contains 8% of the world’s freshwater and has over 500 fish species. The lake’s deep waters have low oxygen levels, so most fish stay within 20 meters of the warm, oxygen-rich surface.

8. Baobab trees are everything and can live to be 1,000 years old.

Baobab trees are fundamental to the entire dry African savanna ecological system, offering shelter, food, material and water to humans and animals alike. Their fire-resistant bark and large trunks are used to make cloth and rope. The leaves can be eaten as medicine. The baobab trees’ seeds produce oil for cosmetics, sold worldwide.

You can see baobabs in Tarangire National Park.

9. Ugali is life in Tanzania

Tanzania is home to distinctive and delicious cuisine like nyama choma, octopus curry, pilau, and mandazi, but you cannot understand Tanzania without understanding Ugali, the national dish. Ugali is a boiled corn flour dish similar to polenta.

Tanzanians eat ugali approximately four times a week on average with vegetables, soup, beans or fish. It’s traditionally eaten by hand, with each person pinching off a piece with the fingers, rolling it into a ball, and using it to scoop up accompanying dishes. The communal style of eating bounds together a spirit or unity and togetherness. You and me, we bond over ugali.

10. The Anglo-Zanzibar War was over before it began

The Anglo-Zanzibar War of 1896 is the shortest recorded war in history, lasting between 38 and 45 minutes. It started after the suspicious death of pro-British Sultan Hamad bin Thuwaini, and the succession of a less pro-British Sultan Khalid bin Barghash. The British navy faced off against 3,000 Zanzibari civilians. It was over quickly.

11. Zanzibar changed hands a lot and slavery was integral

OK. This isn’t a fun fact, but Zanzibar was a major hub for the Arab slave trade. In fact, the world’s last active slave market was in Stone Town, Zanzibar which is now a significant historical site. Every year, 40,000 to 50,000 slaves were sent to Zanzibar, mainly working on plantations under Omani rule. The market closed in 1873 due to British pressure.

It’s location in the Indian Ocean made it a trade hub. Arab and Indian traders established goods routes with mainland Tanzania, which expanded the slave trade.

The Portuguese controlled the coastline in the late 15th century but were ousted by the Arabs of Oman and Zanzibar in the late 18th century. Then German colonists arrived in the 1880s, making the region a protectorate as part of German East Africa in 1891. During World War I, the British Empire captured the German holdings, which became a British mandate in 1920 called Tanganyika. After World War II, it became a UN territory under British control.

12. Tanzania was founded with a merger between two countries

During the Zanzibar Revolution in January 1964, Zanzibar’s majority Black African population overthrew the Sultan of Zanzibar Jamshid bin Abdullah and the Arab government. In 1961, Tanganyika and Zanzibar merged to form the nation of Tanzania.

13. God Bless Africa is the national anthem of Tanzania

“Mungu ibariki Afrika” or “God bless Africa” is the national anthem of Tanzania. It is a Swahili language version of Enoch Sontonga’s hymn “Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika”. The song used to the national anthem of Zambia and Namibia as well.

We hope you enjoyed these amazing facts about Tanzania, and we look forward to seeing you on your next trip to visit this country.