In the Footsteps of Mr. Livingstone

18^th April – Day 201 – Bukoba, Tanzania

Despite being a junction town, it seems that Masaka isn't particularly easy to get out of. People told us that there were no bus company offices in town but that we could get a bus from the junction of the Mbarara and Bukoba roads just out of town. We set off earlyish to try and meet a direct bus to Bukoba while Uganda decided to say goodbye to us in its own way – the heavens opened as soon as we stepped out of the door of the hotel and we were soon drenched. And lost, again. The people of Masaka were treated to the same show as so many of their African brethren in the last 6 or 7 months – two muzungus standing at an intersection wondering which way to go. Common sense eventually prevailed and we hopped into a shared taxi which was going our way. The problem so far had been that we had not found two people who had given us the same answer on where exactly we should go to get the bus to Bukoba, and so we ended up standing under a tree by a petrol station with a couple of women who were waiting with their kids. A bus to the border town of Mutukula passed, I went to flag it down, and the bus sailed past. The women told us that this was the only one going in that direction. A classic African headscratching period ensued and we ended up sharing a shared taxi with the women and many others to the border. All in all, we packed 9 adults and 3 kids into a normal car. Impressive even by African standards.

A small selection of the passengers

The crossing was uneventful and after swapping shared taxis a few times we rolled into Bukoba on the shores of Lake Victoria. It's a fairly quiet and unassuming town which we walked around (in circles as always) looking for a place to stay, which we eventually found. This done, we headed off to the lake to see what there was to see. It was the first time we'd set eyes on the lake and, even if the proliferation of bars and hotels prevented us from feeling exactly the same sensation of discovery felt by David Livingstone, we consoled ourselves with the thought that Dr. Livingstone could not have taken a few photos and gone to sit at a beach bar for a cold Serengeti beer so we did exactly that. M, still on anti-Giardia drugs, had to settle for a Coca-Cola although it's doubtful that Livingstone had one of those out of the fridge when he arrived here for the first time. But anyway, I digress.

The above-mentioned lake

The above-mentioned beach bar

Aside from being home to a number of beach bars, Bukoba is also home to a Catholic cathedral which I would imagine is probably the only one on the planet which could be used as a set in some kind of futuristic sci-fi movie. It was ugly and totally incongruous with the rest of the town (and indeed with the rest of Uganda) and so like good tourists we stood and stared at it for a while and took a picture before moving on.

Delightful, isn't it?

We spent the evening swatting mosquitos and reading our Lonely Planet to Southern Africa, given that M's parents are arriving in Zimbabwe in less than 4 weeks. Slightly amateur-tourist perhaps, but Livingstone probably couldn't have done that either.

Bukoba - where you can share your bathroom with a mushroom!