Kigoma

Kigoma is a small town and lake port in north-western Tanzania, sitting on the north-eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika near the border with Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is the regional capital and the gateway to almost every chimpanzee safari in the country, because the boats to Gombe Stream and the scheduled flights to Mahale depart from here. Most guests spend a night at either end of a Gombe trip, and Kigoma has a small but comfortable choice of lakeside hotels for that purpose.

The town has a long history as a trading and transport hub. The MV Liemba, a passenger and cargo ferry built by the Germans in 1913, still runs the length of the lake between Kigoma and Mpulungu in Zambia when operational. The Kigoma railway station is the western terminus of the Tanzania central line built at the turn of the twentieth century. Just south of town at Ujiji is the site where Henry Morton Stanley met the missing explorer Dr. David Livingstone in November 1871, marked today by a small museum.

Lake Tanganyika itself is one of the great features of the region. It is the world's longest freshwater lake, the second deepest at 1,470 metres, and among the oldest at nine to twelve million years, giving it a remarkable diversity of endemic cichlid fish. Sunsets across the water towards Congo, jacaranda-lined streets in the older parts of town, and lake-swimming beaches at Jakobsen's give Kigoma a relaxed, tropical feel that is a welcome contrast to the more famous northern circuit hubs.

Beyond the town, day boat trips run to the small fishing villages north of Gombe, to Bangwe hot springs, and to snorkelling sites where cichlids swarm around the rocks. Kigoma is not a wildlife destination in itself, but it is an essential and pleasant stop for anyone building a western circuit itinerary.