Singida Region (Mkoa wa Singida in Swahili) is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative regions. The region covers a land area of . The region is comparable in size to the combined land area of the nation state of Slovakia. The Region is bordered to the north by Shinyanga Region, Simiyu Region and Arusha Region, to the northeast by Manyara Region, to the east by Dodoma Region, to the southeast by Iringa Region, to the southwest by Mbeya Region and to the west by Tabora Region. The regional capital is the municipality of Singida. According to the 2012 national census, the region had a population of 1,370,637. Geography Singida Region is located below the equator between latitudes 3052’ and 7034’. Longitudinally the region is situated between 33027’ and 350 26’ east of Greenwich. To the north, it shares borders with Shinyanga Region; Arusha, Manyara and on the east borders Dodoma. To the south it shares borders with Iringa and Mbeya while on the west there is Tabora Region. Singida Region has a total surface area of 49,438 km2, out of which 95.5 km2 or 0.19 percent are covered by water bodies of Lake Eyasi, Kitangiri, Singidani, Kindai, Munang and Balengida. The remaining 49,342.5 km2 is land area. It is the 5 th in size and occupies about 5.6 percent of mainland Tanzania's total area of 881,289 km2. Manyoni District Council (57.9%) is the largest district in the Singida Region, followed by Ikungi District Council (14.9%), Iramba District, Singida District Council, Mkalama District Council, and Singida Municipality at the tail end. Climate The area is a portion of Tanzania's semi-arid central region, which has an unpredictable rainfall pattern, brief rainy seasons, and a fairly severe drought once every four years. There are significant geographic and seasonal variations in the annual total rainfall, which ranges from 500 mm to 800 mm. There are two seasons: the lengthy dry season from April/May to November and the brief rainy season from December to March (or occasionally up to April). In the south-west of Manyoni District near Rungwa and along the escarpment at Kiomboi in Iramba District, where long-term mean annual rainfall surpasses 800 mm, respectively, are where Singida Region is wettest. Over a sizable portion of the Iramba and Singida districts, the mean annual rainfall falls between 600 mm and 800 mm. The driest section of the region, where the mean annual rainfall is less