Africa 7:...  

Background geography

[Click to enlarge any of them] Best views IMHO are on Google Maps.

First the global view. Some things to note:

• All of the area I will be visiting is above the Tropic of Capricorn
• Compare the latitude with the US production areas
• Tanzania is extremely close the the equator
• Check out the proximity to India and China
• Although this is still size distorted note the immense area still available for farm development

 For South Africa:

• I will be in the area around Johannesburg - grain & livestock
• Most of the area is grazing ground
• Wine in the Cape area is huge industry
• Sugar cane around Durban is an important crop

For Mozambique:

• The old description of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is an "inverted soup bowl" with a narrow lowland rim escalating to high plateaus is apt
• No glaciers means very little topography like prairies or Midwestern wet savannahs
• I will be west of Nampula near Gurue
• Note the relationship to Zimbabwe - I think it will play an important role for better or worse in all these countries, but especially Mozambique

Finally, Tanzania

• The Rift Valley in the north is the birthplace of humanity
• The big lakes are big tourist draws, along with game parks
• I will be in the Morogoro area

I'm hoping to give lat/long coordinates to mark my progress and allow you to zoom in from the Google Earth satellite maps. Should have gotten a GPS thingy.