Note: we are a little late in posting this – it was ready to go and then we went on a 5 day trip to Serengeti and Ngorongoro national parks with no internet… we are now on the other side and on a bus to Nairobi – more to come soon 😉
After 4 days, 2 9hr bus rides and 3 boat rides, we have made it to the city of Mwanza, Tanzania’s second largest city and a major economic hub for lake Victoria. Mwanza itself is a bustling city but it’s lakeside position and leafy streets give a relatively relaxed feel to the place. Importantly, Mwanza also had a significant South Asian population which means the food is a vast improvement to what we have been having during our first few days in the west of the country. Mwanza also, consequently, has a real multicultural feel to the place.
Rwanda feels a long time ago but it was only Saturday 10th when we caught a 4am bus from Kigali. The bus was comfortable and spacious and the road through Rwanda was pretty good. It took us 1h and 40m and 4 different queues to get a visa and get through the border. Grumpy and knackered we got on the bus and continued the journey into Tanzania. Any chance of getting some sleep was rapidly crushed by the state of the roads (or in places lack thereof)!
Throughout the journey we were never quite sure if the bus was going to the town we were looking to get to (Biharamulo)! We were eventually reassured all was well by the conductor who nodded and said “no problem”. We were a little surprised to be dropped of in a village 30 minutes away as the bus continued down a different route! We were pointed towards the local taxi / dalla dalla (local minibuses) stop and sure enough found a ride to Biharamulo after haggling with a group of young lads.
Biharamulo was the old German administrative centre for the region. For us, it was a stopover en route to Rubondo Island (and national park) in the West end of lake Victoria. We were excited by the prospect of staying in the old German “Boma” (fort) which allegedly had a guesthouse! Upon arrival, however, we found the place is now a government building… so we headed to the New Aspen hotel. While the hotel was actually great (complete with outdoor bar), we can confirm it did not feel like Colorado… Biharamulo itself is a pretty tiny and sleepy town. It’s safe to say our presence was a key excitement in the town – alongside the wedding that was hosted at the outdoor bar of our hotel. We managed to source the essentials – a Tanzanian SIM, a taxi ride for the next day and mangos – all the while saying hello (mambo) to locals and being followed by hijab-wearing little girls. In Biharamulo, we also came to know one of the 2 dishes that seemed to be available in this part of the country – chicken and chips or rice and fish. We found ourselves as observer / participants to the wedding: we congratulated the bride and groom and ended up being quite popular among the kids at the wedding :).
After a surprisingly noisy night (heavy bass music coming from the local bar continued through the night and seemingly merging into church practice the next morning!) we rode with our local cabbie to the tiny fishing harbour of Kasenda. We took a 1hour+ ride down a dirt track passing many local villages and goat/cattle-herding children in a region the Tanzanian President comes from. We oddly found ourselves using offline map / GPS on our phones to direct the driver – an indication that many don’t venture that far from their immediate local area! After a short wait we were picked up by boat (especially arranged by the national park for us…) and got our first proper taste of Lake Victoria on the way to Rubondo Island! The skipper even gave us a mini private detour, dropping in at a local crocodile (“mamba” in Swahili) hang out spot on the island. On arrival, we signed in and paid at the national park offices, were shown to the “bandas” (national park -run huts/ lodge) and discovered that we were the only guests on the island…
Rubondo is like a place out of a David Attenborough documentary. It is covered in dense rainforest and surrounded by inviting beaches and shallow marshland. Any thought of swimming is quickly quashed by warnings of hippos and crocs… A range of other animals (elephants, giraffes and recently chimps) have been introduced to the island. The place is stunningly beautiful and when the sun was shining over the tranquil waters of the lake, with a myriad of migratory birds, eagles and black kites flying around, it really is an idyllic place. We quickly realised that the national park is very much there for the widlife and we as humans were very much only visitors. Because of the danger of encountering hippos or elephants, we were not allowed to wander anywhere unescorted. Even a trip to the local “shop” (where only spaghetti, biscuits and cigarettes were sold) had to be made by 4×4.
For food, the cook for the national park workers also cooked for us. The fish was truly excellent and as you would expect, came straight from lake Victoria. Between Rubondo and Biharamulo though, we ate variants of fish, rice, chicken and chips every day, twice a day… as well as sweet spaghetti for breakfast. We were left craving vegetables but were at least supplied with good amounts of local fruit (banana, pineapple, mango, water mellon).
On our second day on Rubondo, we went on a walking safari, escorted by our guide, 22-year old Elton, and a Kalashnikov-wielding park ranger. It was a fantastic way to get a feel for the island. We also came to discover why the island was so quiet- it rains A LOT in December and is hard to get dry in the damp bandas! Each day we had a very heavy downpour in the afternoon. This was generally only for a couple of hours thankfully leaving us plenty of time to chill out and read in the sun by the lake as well 🙂
Despite its beauty, Rubondo did start to feel a little claustrophobic so after 2 nights we were back on the boat and onwards along lake Victoria to Mwanza!
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