Kagera borders Uganda to the north, Rwanda and Burundi to the west, and the Tanzanian regions Kigoma to the south and Geita to the east.

The regional capital Bukoba is about 1,500 kilometres (930 mi) from Dar es Salaam.

The area is made up of a number of hills that run parallel to the lake's edge and north to south.

Before European colonialism, coffee was a traditional crop in the area, used for its stimulant properties and in local cultural rituals.

Although there was a gender-based division of labour in the traditional Bahaya society, women of the time were not thought to be inferior to men.

For example, upon the death of a head of a family (Nyin'enju), during the following inheritance rituals, the "Main Inheritor" (Omusika) had to have a female counterpart selected from among his sisters to share his authority.

The kings lived in elaborate palaces and were respected as the direct link to gods of their kingdoms.

The authority of the nine kingdoms (Kihanja, Karagwe, Kiziba, Misenye, Bugabo, Kyamtwara, Ihangiro, Bukara and Biharamulo) was diminished when Germans colonised Tanzania in 1885 and supported the Haya, the ethnic group of Bukoba and Muleba Districts over the other districts.

The demise of these kingdoms came after Tanzania gained its independence and president Nyerere considered them detrimental to national unity.

Cultural tours are available for tourists visiting Kagera and can be accessed from the region's capital of Bukoba.

During German rule Dr. M. Zupitza, then serving as the local medical officer, encountered the plague outbreak in Kiziba (1897–1898).

When authority was transferred to the British who supplanted the Germans, Kagera was open to Lutheran missionary activity.

[6] The Kagera Region has abundant wildlife, including baboons, giraffe, elands, crocodiles, hippopotamus, warthog.

Birdlife includes African fish eagles, hammerkops, marabou stork, cormorants.