Happily leaving the well-beaten path of the Kilimanjaro area behind, I took a 17-hour bus ride to Tanzania's second city, Mwanza, situated on the southern shores of Lake Victoria. The ride was only supposed to take 12 hours, I budgeted for 15, but after two breakdowns we arrived in Mwanza well after dark. It was no doubt a long day, but 17 hours watching Tanzania go by can be quite entertaining. The bus passed through stunning and diverse landscapes from wide open savanna plains, volcanoes, boulder-strewn hills, and desert-looking waste lands, not to mention bustling little villages and Masai herdsmen tending their cattle. I am finding out that in Africa, it is often more about the journey and less about the destination.
Even though Mwanza is Tanzania's second largest city, it is nothing compared to Dar es Salaam. Mwanza does have tall buildings, congested traffic, and general chaos, but it is beautifully set amongst huge boulders, hilly terrain, and of course there is the lake. Lake Victoria is huge; Africa's largest lake and the world's second largest. The lake is shared by Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda and there are ports and villages scattered around its shores. Because of this, the Mwanza port is busy with ships and boats plying the waters hauling cargo, people, and fishermen.
The way in which Mwanza is built around a bay with hillside homes amongst the boulders gave it an exotic feel, like being on the Mediterranean (like I know what it is like to be on the Mediterranean...)
The streets of Mwanza were chaotically on par with the streets of other big cities, but it is the lake and pretty surroundings that separate it from the rest.
Sunset over Mwanza gulf.
My objective of this leg of the journey was to board the MV Victoria and set sail across the lake to Tanzania's other major port town of Bukoba. Arriving in Mwanza I didn't know exactly what to expect from the MV Victoria. I was envisioning something similar to the boats that took me across Lake Malawi but was certainly hoping for something better. Turns out, the MV Victoria is better by leaps and bounds. The boat, or ship rather, was built in 1960 and commissioned in 1961 on Lake Victoria. It is a proper passenger and cargo vessel that was a joy to be aboard. The boat left Mwanza late in the evening under starry skies, calm water, and lighting storms on the horizon. It was almost romantic steaming across the waters of Lake Victoria watching the dozens of bobbing kerosene lamps of the night fishermen and feeling the rumble of the ship under your feet. The ride was smooth and I even managed to catch some sleep in a shared cabin that had six beds. After about 9 hours the boat blew its deafening horn and we pulled into the port of Bukoba in the early morning light.
The MV Victoria. A big boat for a big lake.
Bukoba is not too much unlike Mwanza, in that it is set in hilly and bouldery terrain. However, it is not near as big and therefore maintains more of a village feel. There is a beautiful sandy beach, but the cloudy weather and warning about bilharzia in the water prevented me from doing any serious beach bumming. Instead, I wandered around the town, visited the market, ate mangoes, and tried to escape from people in the surrounding hillsides; you know, the usual.
Traditional hut found on the beaches of Bukoba...actually, that was my accommodation for the night.
If dropped along the shores of Lake Victoria blind-folded, you would not know whether you were on the ocean or a lake, unless of course you tasted the water. Unlike Lake Malawi, I don't think there is any way to see across this lake.
Bukoba town center.
Like Africa's other great lakes, Lake Victoria is loaded with fish and the locals are avid fishermen. Tilapia seemed to be the most common fish, and delicious.
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