Kigoma

The office remains closed this week, which I hadn’t expected before the announcement in December. After the chill of Zanzibar I have decided the final week should be spent more adventurously fulfilling a long-standing goal. So today I have travelled to Kigoma in western Tanzania, on the shore of Lake Tanganyika and close to both Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. From there trips can be organised to Gombe Stream National Park, home of the famous chimpanzee troops studied by Jane Goodall and one of the longest-running wildlife research projects in the world.

The journey passed over the vast expanses of western Tanzania, emptier and less developed than most other parts of the country. By road it would take three days to reach Kigoma. It feels like a new area of Africa that I don’t know.

I went walking in the afternoon, up and down Kigoma’s hilly streets. For a regional centre Kigoma seems to be a very laidback and definitely very pedestrian. There is less of the usual gawking at foreigners than in typical towns of this size. The region in question is quite remote, which would normally enhance the curiosity in unfamiliar faces but here I am assuming the soothing Lake Tanganyika airs create a relaxed atmosphere normally associated with coastal environments.

I found a hotel with multiple storeys and good views of Lake Tanganyika and its delightful sunsets. I ordered some chicken fried rice and got excited about my few days here and the prospect of more open-ended travel in the future whenever I take a break from work.

I’m staying at a guesthouse in a spacious and tree-filled compound made up of former government houses. It’s very tranquil. The electricity was off for almost the whole evening, with only random flashes lasting a few minutes. Enforced cut-offs to disconnect are probably a good thing overall.