Mwanza - Part 1

 We are now ready for our drive to Mwanza but before we head off Robert wants to go back to his hotel where he thinks he has left his coat. When we get there, there is no sign of his coat but the hotel manager asks Robert if we can give her sister a lift to Mwanza. There is a bench seat in the back of the van so Robert says ok, however to our surprise a woman AND her daughter climb in!!

It takes about 2 hours to drive to the ferry port. On the way the weather starts to deteriorate and by the time we get there it is raining really hard.

On arrival we see that there are 2 ferries docked but one is just about to sail. We leave Shabani in the van and jump out as everyone else has to travel as foot passengers. Passengers pay TSh 400 (about 12p). We enter the ferry waiting area and as always we are the only white faces. There are 2 buses already loaded on the 2nd ferry so we watch with interest to see if Shabani will get on before we walk on to the ferry. Luckily as we watch it stops raining.

Before they let any more cars or buses on we see that they are trying to load a huge transporter lorry with a digger on the back. As we watch it seems that the transporter gets stuck having not driven all the way to the front of the ferry and so blocking other vehicles loading. It also seems that the driver cannot reverse either. The port staff then spend ages trying to decide what to do and it looks like the ferry is going nowhere. 

Then suddenly the transporter moves and slowly reverses off the ferry. They then unload the few cars that have already boarded just leaving 2 buses on there. The ferry then manoeuvres round to the left to the other loading point which appears to be higher. This time they load the cars first, including Shabani and then the transporter successfully drives all the way on. At this point we walk down onto the ferry, making sure we have our extra passengers with us.

And eventually we sail, well over an hour later, having loaded the sum total of about 12 vehicles!! We don't have many photos as you are not supposed to take them in the port!!

As we leave we do see the other ferry approaching the port and we sneak a picture. You can also see the road bridge that they have been building for about 3 years, it looks like there is a possibility that it may be finished by the time we come back next year 🤞.

The ferry crossing takes about half an hour and Shabani is the first car off when we reach the other side. It is now about an hours drive to Mwanza, however Shabani wants us to meet his family. He lives in a village not far from Mwanza so when we get to the junction our extra passengers leave us, they will get a dala dala (small bus) from here. 

We drive a mile or so off the main road before we reach Shabani’s house. We pass the school that Shabani’s children attend. Sadly they do not yet have electricity so do not have any computers. The family have been living in this house for about 3 years but it is still only half built. This is quite usual in Tanzania, each time you have some spare money you build a bit more. They have solar panels for some electricity but they have to collect their water from the village.

When we arrive we are met by Shabani’s wife, son, twin daughters and the baby. We are invited into the house. We have brought a few gifts for his wife and the children so we pass those over. We also take a few photos before we leave. It was a nice visit and it felt lovely to have been invited. 

It’s now about 4pm and we appear to have missed lunch somewhere along the line so we stop at a bar Robert knows and order chicken and chips. Shabani is still with us as he has some things he wants to do in town. Luckily the food comes fairly quickly and anyway Shabani is happy as the bar has plenty of TV’s and Simba are playing.

Robert then drops us at the Hotel Tilapia which will be our home for the next 5 nights. We check in and get shown to our room which is great. We have stayed at this hotel before and like it. It is definitely a much more western hotel than any of the others we have stayed in since leaving Arusha, but then we are paying more. We don’t do much for the rest of the evening.

There is a little bit of amusement when a couple of staff turn up later to put up the mosquito net. It seems a complicated process to get right. We stand and watch as they fiddle around before they are happy with the result.

The following morning we awake to sunshine and some lovely views across Lake Victoria. Breakfast is great. There is granola  and yogurt which we haven’t seen since Arusha, along with lots of fruit, a good selection of hot food and pastries. We don’t rush and enjoy the experience as we know we have the morning to ourselves.

ACTT have their second office here in Mwanza so I am expecting Robert to have quite a lot of work to catch up on over the next few days, leaving us some time for rest and relaxation. I spend my morning writing my blog and Pete reads and surfs the Internet. We get a light lunch in the bar and then Robert picks us up at about 3pm to go and meet the staff in the office. We have known Caro and Tina for quite a few years but this is the first time we have met Amos. 

We spend a couple of hours in the office before going out to a bar with Robert to get some dinner. We decide to have fish as we are right on Lake Victoria. The food is excellent and the girl serving us is good fun so it’s a nice evening. As always in local bars, we eat with our fingers and share the plates of food. The fish was a bit messy but tasted so good.

The next day we have arranged with Robert to have a day around the hotel so he can work. 

We spend most of our day in the bar/lounge area. They do have a swimming pool but it’s too hot for us to sit round it.

Pete does a bit of bird watching and also manages to spot a couple of monitor lizards swimming in the lake. The photos were  taken on his phone so are not brilliant but you can clearly see them.

Tilapia is the name of a fish which can be caught here and is very popular to eat. It’s what we had last night. So all around the hotel are tilapia decorations.

And this sign by the toilets also makes me smile.

The hotel restaurant serves a good selection of Indian food so this evening we order a couple of curries with some rice and naan. It’s nice to have something different for a change and the food is good.