How nature created Tanzania to be one the best habitable place on Earth

The United Republic of Tanzania is strategically located between the great east African lakes of Victoria on north, Tanganyika on the west and Nyasa on the south.

Covering more than 945,087 square kilometers, the United Republic of Tanzania is the second largest country in East Africa which lies on the western coastal shore of the Indian Ocean.

Meanwhile, history shows about 3.5 billion years ago to make life possible on Earth, the almighty God accumulated the water mass in one place and named it ocean.

This lead into the emerging of Lithosphere or dry land with fertile soil which also supports lives of animals, plants and micro organisms.

According to fossils records these prehistoric crocodiles were found in salt lakes of modern African continent. These and other reptilians came into existence on the Earth more than 541 million years ago when there was one huge continent called Pangaea.

About 231 million years ago, it was on this super continent dinosaurs dwelled in the land where Tanzania and other east African countries are found today.

Paleontologists say explosive volcanic activities inside central part of the Earth sent shaking waves which crashed the Pangaea into smaller parts.

In what scientists called Continental drift, these smaller continents moved into new position where North America, Australia, Antarctica, India, South America, Africa and Eurasia are found today.

Scientists say before breaking up the super continent was built by more than 94 strong parts called cratons which one of them is found in modern Tanzania.

The catastrophic Continental drift happened about 175 million years ago and led into the emerging of East African rift valley more than 150 million years ago.

The rift valley was a result of continuation of volcanic activities which also affected shape and weather on the Earth’s surface.

On the other hand, the fertile volcanic soil and good weather gave the rise of huge tropical forest in different parts of new continents more than 74 million years ago.

Just like from the beginning of time, the continuation of volcanic activities on the Earth’s surface forced the dinosaurs and some plants into extinction about 66 million years ago.

On the other hand, Scientists describe a continent as one of several very large landmasses on the Earth where Africa is the second largest just after Asia and before North America.

Continents happened due to volcanic activities which caused thermal expansion which in turn broke one supercontinent to form new continents which drift away because of expansion of the rip zones where oceans are found today.

History tells us that Africa came into being about 150 million years ago due what scientists describe as continental drift but from that time to date this continent has become an important refuge for different species of avian, reptile and mammals.

Meanwhile, stretching for more than 6,000 kilometers from Jordan through Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania to Mozambique is the Great East African Rift Valley.

The history of the world shows that, the East African Rift Valley is a part of the Great Rift Valley which started from Lebanon about 40 million years ago when to flexed its muscles to different parts of the world including what is known today as East Africa.

Geologists describe a Rift Valley as a long or extending lowland between several highlands or mountain ranges created by the action of a geologic rift or fault, it is formed on a divergent plate boundary which is spreading apart on the surface.

A rift valley is a result of volcanic activity which create strong tensional forces capable of splitting a continental plate into two parts, when this happen the center block drops between and on the edge original plates to form parallel steeply dipping walls of a rift valley.

Just as what happened in Nakuru the fault may be deepened and extended by other forces of nature such as wind and rain which work through soil erosion.

Geologists say due to underneath volcanic activities, the rift valley reached northern part of the modern Kenya about 40 million years ago but it did not stopped there because about 30 million years ago it flexed its muscles deep into the central part of this country in East Africa.

It is believed that about 24 million years ago different geological and climate factors contributed into the expansion of the savannah grassland into different parts of the world including Africa where Serengeti, Tarangire, Mikumi, Ruaha and Katavi are known all over the world for being homes for mammals, reptilians and avian.

History indicate that ancestors of modern secretary bird evolved into the savannah about 23 million years ago before the earth passed through another climate changes which allowed some plants to evolved into huge forests and enabled some mammals to flourish.

This happened after the first land plant made its initial appearance about 5 million years ago when it grew and multiply into a huge forest about 90 million years later after the big bang which happened when planet Earth was being created about4.5 billion years ago.

From their point of view, paleontologists say the earliest organisms that can be classified as fish were soft bodied chordates that first appeared about 485.4 million years ago when the majority of living organisms on the whole world were small, unicellular and simple.

Fossils records indicate the ancestors of electric eel evolved in the central part of Eurasia super continent about 251 million years ago but they were forced to migrate into other continents including Africa when the amount of Oxygen on the Earth’s surface crumbled.

This situation forced the ancient electric eel to migrate into freshwater of Africa about 145 million years ago, meanwhile historians believe these fish swam into Lake Tanganyika about 10,000 years ago through three rivers which are Malagarasi, Luiche and Ruzizi.

Amazingly on western border of the country there is lake Tanganyika which structures this beautiful land from about 541 million years ago at the time of continental drifting, covering about 32,900 square kilometers.

Lake Tanganyika has a maximum depth of 1,470 meters which holds an estimated 18,900 cubic kilometers which equivalent to about 16% of all fresh water on Earth.

The lake is the second deepest in the world which its 46 % of its area is controlled by Tanzania, 40% by DRC and the remaining 14 % is divided for Burundi and Zambia.

Lake Tanganyika extends for about 676 kilometers with a shoreline covering 1,828 kilometers where both Gombe and Mahale national parks are located.

Tanganyika and Nyasa are rift valley lakes which geologists say they are one of oldest and deepest water bodies on Earth because they were formed in the middle of the East African Rift Valley millions of years ago.

Moreover, history shows the East African rift valley crossed to Tanzania about 12 million years ago when tensional forces created faults which made the eastern arm or what is known to some scientists as Gregory Rift.

Geologists say about 8 million years ago the rift valley was extending very rapid southward but when it met a strong rock called Tanzanian craton  it formed the western arm or Albertine Rif which is located about 1,300 kilometers from the original rift.

Although some scientists believe the original of East African Rift Valley is in East Africa but others say from Afar Triangle on the shores of Red Sea, underneath volcanic activities stretched the Gregory Rift southward where it played key role on the formation of volcanic mountains such as Kenya, Kilimanjaro, Oldoinyo Lengai and huge caldera of Ngorongoro.

That was the time when that wildebeests evolved in southern part of Africa about 2.5 million years ago but due to different changes in their natural ecology, these antelopes split into two groups.

Scientists believe that the split of the first of generation of wildebeest was not caused by competition for new grazing ground but some zoologists believe that prejudice among some influential individuals played a role on the move for new pasture in east Africa.

The split gave rise to the first group the black wildebeest which decided to remain in the original place where now days they are found in national parks and game reserves of South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho and Namibia.

The second group is called blue wildebeests which are more strong, bigger and inquisitive than their fellow that is why they put up courage to look for new pasture and decided to migrate to East Africa from about one million years ago.

Many factors contributed into the division of the original generation of the wildebeests to migrate but some researches indicate that about 3.7 million years ago, the whole area on south Sahara in Africa experienced severe climate changes.

It was during that time when most parts of Africa under powerful winds which was sweeping from the Indian Ocean after being trigged by a dangerous Elnino weather and other natural forces including volcanic activities which continued to shape the area.

On the other hand historians say ancestors of modern impala were evolved near the rift valley in Ethiopia between 5.333 million to 2.58 million years ago when the world continued to cool and caused the disappearance of forests and the spread of grasslands and savannahs.

These and other factors forced the impala to migrate into Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and other countries which are located south of Sahara where national parks such as Ruaha, Serengeti, Mikumi, Mkomazi, lake Manyara, Arusha and Tarangire are known for harboring a big population of these beautiful antelopes.

Walls of the eastern arm stands for about 3,000 meters above the sea level while the inner part lay at about 1,000 meters above sea level, these and other features make  the East African Rift Valley to be one of largest natural landmark on the Earth.

Located on the western shores of lake Victoria, the Albertine Rift passes through Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania where it is believed force of volcanic activities changed shape, size and ecology of a huge prehistoric lake which was located where lake Tanganyika is found today.

Some scientists say there were two separate huge lakes because before 541 million years ago when the World was occupied with one super continent called Rodinia, the original lakes which later formed Victoria had one of their sources from Lake Tanganyika.

Scientific researches indicate that volcanic activities on the western branch of East African Rift Valley blocked the supply when Vurunga Mountain emerged and diverted the river southward.

From the beginning of continental drift, volcanic activities in the East African Rift Valley are known to affect landforms on this part of the world but those days it cut relationship between the two biggest lakes in Africa.

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