September 10

We have just returned from a restful break bird-watching at Speke Bay and seeing the sights of Mwanza.

We left Bukoba last Friday night on the ferry bound for Mwanza.  It is an overnight crossing leaving at 9.00 pm and arriving around 7.00 am the next morning.  Being soft, old Wazungu we booked First Class sleeper accommodation. 

The ferry ‘MV Victoria’ is a mini Spirit of Tasmania with bananas. There are three levels of passage.  Our 1^st class cabin had two bunks, a wardrobe, a table and a sink with running water. 

The ‘amenities’ included ‘eastern’ and ‘western’ toilets and showers which were not for the faint hearted!  There was a dining room and a bar on our level too that were only available to the 1^st class passengers. 

The 2^nd class passengers sit up all the way.  Their benches are on the deck below 1^st class.  They have toilet facilities available but not showers. 

The 3^rd class passengers share space with the green bananas.

Plantain (green banana) is the major export from our region.  Throughout Tanzania they are sold in the markets as Bukoba Bananas.  They are an important carbohydrate source and are eaten boiled, and then often fried to give them flavour.  On a café menu you would look for Matoke if you wanted boiled green banana. (But you probably don’t, just as you don’t want Ugali – Maize porridge.)

The yellow bananas are a more valuable product than the green ones.  They travel on the deck above first class, next to the lifeboats, in individual containers and with a guard.

The bananas are unloaded at Mwanza and the ferry loaded up with a much more eclectic mix for the return trip – bundles of pillows, plastic wrapped sofa cushions, a motor bike and building supplies were what we could see last night, much of the cargo was hidden in cardboard boxes.

From the ferry terminal at Mwanza we caught a taxi to the Bus Stand and then bought tickets to Speke Bay, a journey of 120km.  We had seats on the bus but many did not.  The driver somehow didn’t get the message about where we were to be dropped so we had to catch a taxi from Lamadi back to Speke Bay Lodge.  This turned out to be a good thing as we used the same taxi driver to  get back to Magu and to negotiate us a reliable taxi from there to Mwanza on the return trip as we didn’t fancy standing all the way back to Mwanza or displacing a passenger who had a seat as often happens when a Mzungu travels on a bus!

Speke Bay Lodge was wonderful.  The food was delicious, the tents airy, the beds comfortable, the amenities spotless and the staff went out of their way to be not just polite but friendly and helpful.  The lodge is right on Lake Victoria and is especially popular with bird watchers.  It is close to the western corridor of Serengeti NP and we hope to stay again at Speke Bay Lodge and visit the national park.  This time it was just nice to relax.  For bird lists and photos you will need to visit Stephen’s blog.  I really liked the Verreaux’s Eagle-Owl and the Superb Starlings but I couldn’t get excited by the waders – they all look so much the same.

On Wednesday we reluctantly headed back to Mwanza – Speke Bay was hard to leave! 

Mwanza is not called Rock-city without reason.  It’s as if the city is built on a pile of boulders.  There are boulders piled on boulders, there are balancing rocks and obelisks.  The houses are built around and on top of the rocks.

Mwanza is the second biggest city in Tanzania.  It has a large fishing fleet and a big, new fish market paid for by the Japanese.  It is an easy city to get around and is much more pleasant than Dar es Salaam.

Steve had booked us a room at the fanciest hotel in Mwanza – the Tilapia Hotel.  It was very pleasant!  We made the most of the free wireless internet and downloaded a heap of podcasts for Steve’s iPod.  I had planned to swim in the pool but it was too public – overlooked by the bar – and I didn’t want people shouting ‘hippo’!  

There were some fabulous brass sculptures of the Big Five as well as some wonderful African art and craft and a collection of wall plates from places as diverse as Westminster, Tokyo and Florida.  (I could have contributed one with a picture of Gray Street if I’d known!)

 

It has been a very pleasant break!  The only down side is that Michelle, the other Australian volunteer, and her family decided to go home to Australia this weekend, because of family health issues, and we have missed helping them pack up.  We will miss them very much, not just professionally where Michelle’s quiet, reflective approach has balanced my more impetuous attitude, but socially too at the Bukoba Club where we meet for drinks on Friday evening.

Keep reading and commenting people!  Love Jenny