Tanzania is located east of Africa’s Great Lakes, north of Mozambique and south of Kenya, with an Indian Ocean coastline to the east. It shares borders with six other African countries: Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia; it also shares maritime borders with the Comoros and the Seychelles. It has coastlines on three of the Great Lakes: Lake Victoria, Lake Tanganyikaand Lake Nyassa (Lake Malawi).

The country occupies an area of 945,087 km², compared it is about three times the size of Italy or slightly more than twice the size of California.Tanzania has a population of 61.1 million people, the capital is Dodoma, the largest city, main port, major economic and transport hub and de facto capital is Dar es Salaam. Languages spoken are Swahili and English (both official), Arabic (widely spoken in Zanzibar).

Tanzania is an East African country known for its vast wilderness areas. These include the plains of the Serengeti National Park, a safari mecca populated by the ‹big five› game (elephant, lion, leopard, buffalo, rhino), and Kilimanjaro National Park, home to Africa’s highest mountain. Offshore are the tropical islands of Zanzibar, with Arabic influences, and Mafia, with a marine park home to whale sharks and coral.