Border Crossing - Tanzania to Rwanda

It is an early start for me as i make my way from Bukoba to the Rwandan Border.

I got the first daladala from the central bus stand to Karagwe (Tsh.3,500) which departed when full at 6.40am. It managed to squeeze in some 28 passengers on 18 seats reminding me of my Mozambique travels. The journey took 2 hours 20 minutes with only the first hour on sealed road.

Geting off at the Omurushaka terminal i take a big bus onto Benaco (Tsh.7,000) across unsealed roads and dramatic hills spying huge long-horned cattle and a variety of antelope.

Nonetheless the journey is desperately uncomfortable and my stomach does not feel good. After completing this leg in just under five and a half hours, it is already 4pm and i have no desire to cross the border and arrive well into the night in Kigali, so i pit-stop for the night in Benaco in the Silent Night Guesthouse. At Tsh.5,000 its as cheap as chips but you get what you pay for and it is a fairly squalid affair with outside bathrooms reminisent of some of the dodgy toilets found in Tibet. The village is a two street dusty place frequented by drunks.

I'm up early the next morning at 6.20 with no sign of a daladala so i enjoy a quality pillion ride to cover the final 20kms to Rusumo (Tsh.3,000) with a beautiful sunrise over the hills.

The border post opens at 7am and i am third in line, so i am cleared through really quickly with no departure required. Walking across the Rusumo Falls bridge i am stamped into Rwanda within 10 minutes. Totally painless!

There are money changers in "No Man's Land" but don't use them. There is a much better rate of exchange on the Rwandan side.

Express buses depart regularly for Kigali taking just over four hours. The bus driver is just a youngster and fairly incompetent, and we have three near-misses on the journey. The road is excellent and the scenery over Rwanda's "1000 hills" quite beautiful.

Mwanza to Bukoba

MV Victoria docked in Mwanza

The MV Victoria sails to Bukoba on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Embarkation begins at 7.30pm for a 9pm departure. Current prices are 1st class/2nd class (sleeper)/2nd class (seat)/3rd class Tsh30,600/Tsh20,600/ Tsh17,100/Tsh15600 for the approximate nine hour crossing.

Having splashed the cash for a first class ticket, i share a cabin with the jovial and enormously fat Malekela, a young accountant/civil servant. He completely fills the cabin and it's somewhat embarrassing to walk past him.

The steamer leaves on time and i enjoy a quality dinner of samosas soon after.


Arriving rather bleary eyed at around 5.20am, Malekela insists on taking me in his taxi to the New Upendo Lodge a couple of kilometres from the dock and just outside the town centre.