The United Republic of Tanzania includes the Indian Ocean islands of Pemba and Zanzibar and the mainland territory, covering a total area of 1,0219,090 km², and is located on the east coast of Africa between the great lakes of the African Rift Valley system in the central part of the continent and the Indian Ocean. Tanzania has a common border with Kenya and Uganda to the north; Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo to the west; and Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique to the south. The country encompasses a variety of physical features; from a narrow coastal belt with tropical beaches it rises to an extensive plateau covered by savannah and bush at an elevation of about 1,000 metres above sea level. The plateau region is fringed by narrow belts of forested highlands, which includes the snow-capped Mount Kilimanjaro (5,897 metres above sea level), the highest mountain in Africa.