Travel Alert Status
Level 3: Reconsider Travel
Time Difference
UTC+2 (7 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)
Travel Climate
Though less than 5°F south of the Equator, the entire country has a pleasant climate. equatorial; high plateau with considerable altitude variation (772 m to 2,670 m above sea level); the average annual temperature varies with altitude from 23 to 17 degrees centigrade but is generally moderate as the average altitude is about 1,700 m; average
Bujumbura, on the northeastern shore of Lake Tanganyika, averages 73°F. Daytime temperatures are in the mid to upper 80s: In the highlands, temperatures are cooler, in the 60s and 70s, arid at night, and occasional frost occurs.
The short rains occur from October to December, and the long rains from February to May. During the dry seasons, a haze obscures, otherwise spectacular views of the Mitumba mountains of Eastern Zaire, and the air becomes dusty. During the rainy season, the temperatures cool slightly. Rainfall is only occasionally torrential and comes in brief, intense showers, rather than steady downpours. More violent weather, including hailstorms, occurs chiefly in the highlands. Rainfall averages 30 inches in Bujumbura and 47 inches in the uplands.
Travel Currency
1665
Languages
Kirundi (official), French (official), Swahili (along Lake Tanganyika and in the Bujumbura area)
Ethnic Groups
Hutu (Bantu) 85%, Tutsi (Hamitic) 14%, Twa (Pygmy) 1%, Europeans 3,000, South Asians 2,000
National Holiday
Independence Day, 1 July (1962)
Geographic Coordinates
3 30 S, 30 00 E
Location
Central Africa, east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Airports
1