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Today we take a taxi to visit nearby Ujiji, one of the oldest towns in Tanzania, and the place where Dr. David Livingstone, his provisions stolen and deserted by most of his retinue, was found in the nick of time by the New York journalist Henry Morton Stanley, who uttered the immortal words "Dr. Livingstone I presume".
Day 11. Tue 1st October Ujiji
DaveMidgley2005-10-22 12:26:24
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Today we take a taxi to visit nearby Ujiji, one of the oldest towns in Tanzania, and the place where Dr. David Livingstone, his provisions stolen and deserted by most of his retinue, was found in the nick of time by the New York journalist Henry Morton Stanley, who uttered the immortal words "Dr. Livingstone I presume".
As well as a monument on the spot where Livingstone and Stanley are believed to have met there is also a museum containing life-sized papier mache figures of the two explorers . . .
. . . and in the immortal words of Michael Palin "that's about all there is in the museum at Ujiji"!
After the museum we drive down to the lakeside, where there is a thriving boat building industry. All along the beach are boats in various stages of repair.
As usual Ken knows many of them, and we are invited aboard.
Elsewhere fishermen mend nets or relax over a game of Bao.
We return to Kigoma, and the taxi drops us in town where we look around the market and buy water and snacks in preparation for the train journey. I discover Kate and Sue in an Internet Cafe and between us we manage to send e-mails home. I also buy an ornamental axe off one of the ubiquitous curio vendors. (he asks 13000 TS, I get him down to $10, about half).
The train leaves at 5:30, and Ken gets us to the station in good time and, mindful of the risks of thieves and pickpockets, particularly to rich white tourists, whisks us and our luggage through the station and onto the train as quickly as possible. It turns out that the problem with the booking has been solved by the simple expedient of taking a first class carriage off another train and sticking it on ours. What happened to the first class passengers booked on the other train we will never know.
The carriage has six two-berth compartments and we have it more or less to ourselves, except for a rail official in compartment F. We have to rearrange the sleeping
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See photographs from:
Tanzania Gallery
