Few destinations in Africa can rival the diversity of wildlife, culture, music, art and landscapes found in Tanzania. Here is a list of 20 fun facts about Tanzania that spur the imagination and prove that Tanzania is in fact the Heart of Africa.
 

1. The world’s earliest human skull was found in the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania by Louis and Mary Leakey.
2. In 1960 Jane Goodall studied the behavior of free-living chimpanzees in the Gombe National Park of Tanzania that still stands as the longest-running study of its kind in the world.
3. The Ngorongoro Crater is home to the world’s densest population of lions, wildebeest, elephants, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, zebra, leopards, and hyenas. There are approximately 25,000 animals in the crater of just 100 square miles. That’s 250 animals per mile!
4. The official language of Tanzania is Swahili but there are over 120 languages spoken there.
5. Tanzania is just a little bit more than twice the size of California.
6. Mt Kilimanjaro is located in Tanzania and at 19,341 feet above sea level, it is the highest mountain in Africa.
7. Tanzania has the largest concentration of wildlife animals per square kilometer, with more than 4 million wild animals and representatives of 430 species and subspecies.
8. Tanzania is the home of the coconut crab, the largest in the world, and can be found on Chumbe Island of Zanzibar.
9. There are 162 different tribes actively living in Tanzania and each is unique in their own way.
10. The moon can shine so brightly in Tanzania at night that you don’t need a flashlight to see where you’re going.
11. Time is different in Tanzania. The work day starts at 6am in Tanzania but is called the 1st hour. So when they say that church is at 10 (the 10th hour) it actually means 4pm.
12. Lake Natron is alkaline, salty, and incredibly hot. No one would expect it to be the breeding place for Flamingos.
13. Tanzania is surrounded by 3 of the world’s most magnificent lakes – Lake Victoria, Lake Tanganyika, and Lake Nyasa.
14. Seven countries share a border with Tanzania; Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique.
15. Lake Manyara National Park, in Tanzania, is home to the world’s only tree-climbing lions.
16. Dar es Salaam, the current economic and political hub of the country, was also the old capital of Tanzania.
17. With help from local companies, its people and tourism profits, Tanzania is wining the war against poachers and helping to prevent the extinction of the African Elephant and the Black Rhinoceros.
18. David Livingstone was a Scottish doctor, and on one of his explorations he became the first white man to see Victoria Falls, which he named after Britain’s queen.
19. Tanzania shares its national anthem with South Africa and Zimbabwe. It is titled “Mungu Ibariki Afrika” (God Bless Africa) and was composed by Enock Sontonga.
20. The Selous Game Reserve is the largest unexploited animal reserve in the world. It has an enormous amount of biodiversity and was named after a famous British big-game hunter.