Lake Victoria - Tanzania - page 421

Mwanza (Tsh10,000, four hours) pass through as do Bukoba-Dar es Salaam buses. Dalla-
dallas run to nearer destinations such as Biharamulo (Tsh5000, two hours).
The second option is Nkome, at the end of a rough road north of Geita, where the boat costs
US$185 to Kageye and takes about one hour. Expect choppy water on this crossing. The
warden's office, where you get the boat, is located outside Nkome, a Tsh500/2000 boda
-/taxi-ride from where the final dalla-dalla stops. Two buses go direct from Mwanza to
Nkome (Tsh5000, four to five hours). They leave Mwanza at 10am, but you can meet them
at the Kamanga ferry. Alternatively, it is possible to take a bus to Geita where dalla-dallas
to Nkome (Tsh3500, two hours) are fairly frequent.
Biharamulo
The old German administrative centre of Biharamulo is a small nowhere town that some
travellers find inexplicably appealing. The 1902-05 German boma on the hill above town
has a good guesthouse (per person Tsh10,000; ) , with hot water but no fans. There's no
food, so you'll need to eat down below near the bus station. Two rooms in the boma hold a
few old photos and weapons.
Heading north from Biharamulo, the road passes between the 1300 sq km Biharamulo
Game Reserve and the 2200 sq km Burigi Game Reserve , the latter discussed as a new
national park. Neither has particularly significant tourist facilities, although animal popula-
tions, particularly in swampy Burigi, have revived after suffering severely from the refugee
influxes during the 1990s. Roan and sable antelopes, eland, sitatungas, elephants, giraffes,
zebras, lions and more are present. Arrangements to visit should be made in Dar es Salaam,
but can also be made at the game reserve office in Biharamulo.
There are two or three dalla-dallas or coasters that depart early each morning direct to
Mwanza (Tsh10,000, six hours) and Bukoba (Tsh10,000, two hours). There are also a few
shared taxis to the Rwandan border (Tsh12,000, two hours). To travel to Mwanza later in
the day take one of the frequent shared taxis to Nyankanazi (Tsh7000, one hour) and wait
for a bus there. For Bukoba, catch a connection in Muleba (Tsh4000, 1½ hours).
Because of some bandit attacks in this area a few years back, security is heavy on these
roads and most buses still travel with armed guards.
Bukoba
Bukoba is a bustling town with an attractive waterside setting and amenable small-town
feel. Everyone who comes to visit here seems to like it, even though it's a little hard to put
your finger on exactly why. The town traces its roots to 1890, when Emin Pasha (Eduard
Schnitzer), a German doctor and inveterate wanderer, arrived on the western shores of Lake
Victoria as part of efforts to establish a German foothold in the region. Since then, the
second-largest port on the Tanzanian lakeshore has kept itself flourishing through coffee
and recently vanilla.