Kilimanjaro Region in Tanzania
This is Kilimanjaro Travel Guide: Kilimanjaro is one of Tanzania’s 31 administrative regions with a postcode number 25000. The regional capital is the municipality of Moshi. According to the 2012 national census, the region had a population of 1,640,087, which was lower than the pre-census projection of 1,702,207. For 2002-2012, the region’s 1.8 percent average annual population growth rate was the 24th highest in the country. It was also the eighth most densely populated region with 124 people per square kilometer.[3]:page 6
The region forms part of the Northern Tourism Circuit in Tanzania. It is home to the Kilimanjaro National Park the highest free standing mountain in the world, the Mkomazi National Park, the Pare Mountains, Lake Jipe, Lake Chala, tropical forests and waterfalls. The region is bordered to the north and east by Kenya, to the south by the Tanga Region, to the southwest by the Manyara Region, and to the west by the Arusha Region.
Kilimanjaro Region Districts in Tanzania
Geography : The areas in Kilimanjaro Region fall into two extremes. One part of the area is located in the lee ward side of the mountain hence it is dry and semi–arid. The lowlands are warm, dry and less densely populated. They receive an annual rainfall of less than 800mm deep.
The largest part of the region is mountainous, surrounded by Pare Mountains that range from the base of Mount Kilimanjaro, which is the highest mountain in Africa. This zone has increasingly become, and has always been, the most densely populated – even up to an altitude of 2,400m. Due to the steep hills, land has become very scarce in the region, and forced out-migration to other regions in Tanzania.
A smaller part of the lowlands in the west comprises of marshland, which goes along Pangani river. Contrary to the dry Maasai plains, this part of the lowlands can be cultivated. Thanks to water irrigation, many crops can be grown, namely maize, onions, tomatoes, rice, watermelons and cucumbers.
Main Ethnics Group in Kilimanjaro
Business and people: Businesses and services are concentrated in Moshi town and the District headquarters as well as along the tarmac main route which runs from Moshi to Dar es Salaam. In the mountains farming is based on the cropping of banana, sugarcane, coffee, potatoes and yams, whereas in the lowlands the majority of the population, including the nomadic Maasai, are cattle-keepers.