The country is made up of 29 million residents and 120 ethnic groups, or tribes. As a whole, Tanzania has a 45% Muslim population, 45% Christian population and 10% of the population hold strong to their indigenous beliefs. The official language spoken is Kiswahili, and the second is English, although most who speak English know at least three languages including Kiswahili and their local tribal language. More than 80% of the population resides in rural areas. The country is slightly larger than twice the size of California. Dar Es Salaam is the capital city of Tanzania (also home to Jane Goodall’s Research Institute) and is located on the middle of the eastern coastline.

In Northern Tanzania, explorers have located rich evidence of the area’s prehistory, including fossil remains of some of humanity’s earliest ancestors. Discoveries suggest that East Africa may have been the site of human origin.

Germany colonized Tanzania when it was known as Tanganyika at the end of WWII. The British defeated the Germans, forcing them out of the country. Tanzania gained independence from Britain in 1961, and until the mid 1980s, Tanzania was a one-party state, with a socialist model of economic development. The current president of Tanzania is Jakaya KIKWETE.

A fact I found devasting was that the Life Expectancy for the total population was only 45.24 years. Specifically, for males- 44.56, and for females-45.94.

Other interesting facts:

- Jane Goodall did the majority of her studies with the chimpanzees in Tanzania

- Mt. Kilimanjaro (19,335 ft) is the HIGHEST peak on the African Continent

- Lake Victoria is the second largest freshwater lake in the world (and is the central storyline of one my favorite movies, Mountains of the Moon–Go out an rent!)