Geography

With a population of over 25m, Uganda covers an area of 236,000 km2 of which 15% is water despite it having no sea coastline. It straddles the equator and borders the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan and Tanzania. The country has a rich biodiversity that results from its geographical setting and varied altitude ranging between the lowest point, Lake Albert at 621m and the highest point, Margherita Peak on Mount Stanley at 5,110 m.

Uganda has 2 wet and dry seasons each year and the climate is modified considerably by the elevation above sea level. The mean minimum and the maximum annual temperatures range from 8° - 35°C respectively. Much of the country receives between 1,000 and 1,500 mm of rainfall per annum. The south of the country has two rainfall peaks in April - May and October - November. This pattern however becomes less marked towards the North

The vegetation of Uganda includes Sudanian thicket grasslands, mountain and bamboo forests, heath and moorland on the mountains, lowland forest patches in the south-west and extensive wetlands in the Nile Valley and Lake Victoria basin.

English is the official national language being taught in grade schools and used in most newspapers. Ganda or Luganda is the most widely used of the Niger-Congo languages and Swahili and Arabic are also spoken.

Further details can be found at CIA Factbook.