wiaraka
Hi
I traveled on the Liemba from Mpulungu to Kigoma in December 1969.
I was going from Mansa in Zambia where I was teaching to my parents farm in Uganda.
When I called into the travel office in Lusaka to get information about traveling on the lake, I was told that there were three modern ships going up and down the lake. When I eventually reached Mpulungu, I was told that the black and white smudge on the horizon was the only ship and that it been on the lake since the first world war.
The smudge arrived the next day and I went on board. I shared a cabin with another VSO but I can't remember where he came from or even where he was going to.
We had the same cabin that Michael Palin had years later. This was first class although nothing worked.
We stopped at many places up the lake and I can remember the kapenta fish smell that was everywhere and seeing the fish out to dry on the shores.
We stopped at Ujiji before Kigoma and I have a photograph of the ship from the shore there.
I went on my way at Kigoma and have never been back but now that I read Mimi and Tutu, a friend and I are thinking that we would like to return in 2013 on the 100th anniversary and sail on what must be one of the worlds longest serving passenger boats.
I traveled on the Liemba from Mpulungu to Kigoma in December 1969.
I was going from Mansa in Zambia where I was teaching to my parents farm in Uganda.
When I called into the travel office in Lusaka to get information about traveling on the lake, I was told that there were three modern ships going up and down the lake. When I eventually reached Mpulungu, I was told that the black and white smudge on the horizon was the only ship and that it been on the lake since the first world war.
The smudge arrived the next day and I went on board. I shared a cabin with another VSO but I can't remember where he came from or even where he was going to.
We had the same cabin that Michael Palin had years later. This was first class although nothing worked.
We stopped at many places up the lake and I can remember the kapenta fish smell that was everywhere and seeing the fish out to dry on the shores.
We stopped at Ujiji before Kigoma and I have a photograph of the ship from the shore there.
I went on my way at Kigoma and have never been back but now that I read Mimi and Tutu, a friend and I are thinking that we would like to return in 2013 on the 100th anniversary and sail on what must be one of the worlds longest serving passenger boats.