Western Tanzania - Tanzania - page 454

Charter Boat
In Kigoma, Mbali Mbali ( Click here ) charges US$2000 for a speedboat (four to five hours).
Lake Tanganyika Hotel's ( Click here ) dhow takes 12 or more hours and it also asks for
US$2000, but that price is obviously negotiable. These boats can carry 20-plus people.
It's much more scenic to come up from the south. Lake Shore Lodge in Kipili ( Click here )
charges US$2495 for its speed boat (five to six hours) with an overnight charge of US$180
per night and offers the option of camping on a remote beach en route.
Lake Taxi
Lake taxis ( Click here ) head south from Ujili to Kalilani (Tsh10,000), 2km north of park
headquarters, most days of the week around 5p, to 6pm. The trip often takes more than a
day. Generally they depart from Kalilani around noon. Park staff know what's up with the
boats, so they can advise you on days and times.
One option to make the journey more bearable is take a Saratoga bus from Kigoma to Si-
gunga (Tsh7000, 11am, six to seven hours) and wait for the lake taxi there. Sigunga to Ka-
lilani usually takes seven to eight hours. You could also have the park boat pick you up in
Sigunga; it's two hours to headquarters. Sigunga has a basic guesthouse.
There are also a couple of weekly boats heading north from Kalema (Tsh20,000) or nearby
Ikola each evening for an even choppier journey than the one from Kigoma. It can take any-
where from 12 to 36 hours depending on the winds. They head south from Kalilani about
3pm.
MV Liemba
It's hard to beat the satisfyingly relaxing journey to Mahale via ferry. The MV Liemba stops
at Lagosa (also called Mugambo) to the north of the park (1st/2nd/economy class US$28/
26/16), about 10 hours from Kigoma. It's scheduled to reach Lagosa around 3am whether
coming from the north (Thursday) or south (Sunday), but with the frequent delays, south-
ern arrivals present a good chance of passing the park during daylight, which makes for a
very beautiful trip.
You can arrange in advance for a park boat (holding eight people with luggage) to meet the
Liemba . It's one hour from the Liemba to the bandas, including stopping to register and pay
at headquarters. The cost depends on the price of petrol; but our last journey cost US$39.
Chartering a fisherman's boat for the trip will cost less. It's also possible to take lake taxis
from Lagosa to Kalilani (Tsh3000; two hours), a village about 2km north of the headquar-
ters, but then you'll need to use the park boat for the final 10km to Kasiha. Lagosa has a
basic guesthouse where you can wait for the Liemba after leaving the park.