Weather: Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda

Like Kenya to its north, Tanzania is blessed with delightful temperatures – largely as a result of altitude – but cursed by erratic rainfall that plays havoc with food supplies. The average rainfall does tend to run slightly higher than Kenya's; in both countries, summer drought can result when an El Nino is brewing. Most of the lowlands and the high plateau, including the Serengeti, average at least 500mm/20in of rain a year, mainly in the form of thundery showers that dot the land from November to May. Much more dependable summer rains fall where the prevailing southeast trades blow against mountains, especially around 2000–3000m/6600–9800ft in altitude. The south flank of Kilimanjaro sees over 3000mm/118in of precipitation a year. Summer thundershowers are also frequent and sometimes heavy along the east shores of lakes Victoria and Tanganyika (and north into Burundi and Rwanda), as the afternoon sea breeze bumps into the trade winds. Here, however, as in most of Tanzania, there's usually a good deal of sunshine. Temperatures across the country seldom vary much at all from the mild-towarm norms. Outside of the high country, almost every place experiences highs year round in the 25–31°C/77–88°F range. Readings are on the cooler end of this spectrum during the June-to-August dry season, but humidities stay fairly high and the risk of frost is low, except in the mountains and toward the southernmost highlands. On very rare occasions, a tropical cyclone moving toward Mozambique can bring gales and heavy rain to the Tanzanian coast, which runs warmer and wetter than the interior. Just offshore, the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba receive up to twice as much rain as the coastal city of Dar es Salaam, much of it early in the day.