On my way to Mwanza by train from Kigwe in 2004 or 2005.
My desktop is decorated by a picture of me on my way to Mwanza – in 2004 or 2005. Back in those days Tanzania Railways Corporation still operated between Dar es Salaam and Mwanza. Now there is a big red text across the Mwanza Guide website saying “There is currently no train service between Mwanza and Dar es Salaam.” After my last adventure riding the train from Kigwe (which is close to Dodoma) to Mwanza, I was more than happy to just to spoil myself and fly Precision Air instead of trying my nerves with TRC.
Saying goodbye to the Harbour of Peace.
Here’s a comparison. If you left Dar by train on Sunday evening at 5pm, you would arrive in Mwanza at 7.25am on Tuesday morning. And the trains only ran on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays from Dar. Most probably there would also be a breakdown at some point, or a long wait for another train to be connected to the train you were riding. By plane it’s less adventurous, but obviously much more convenient.
Precision flies to Mwanza 3 or 4 times in a day. I left Dar on Monday at 1.30pm and arrived in Mwanza at 4.30pm – that was with a stopover in Musoma. If you’re lucky, the flight takes only 80 minutes.
View of Lake Nyanza (Victoria) right after taking off from Musoma, going to Mwanza.
I always knew that Lake Nyanza, or as the Brits decided to call it because they believe that they discovered it, Lake Victoria, was Africa’s biggest lake. But you don’t understand just how big it is until you see it from the air. It’s massive! It’s like the sea. And how tempting it would be to jump in there – but I’ll tell you soon why you shouldn’t.
So when I finally arrived in Mwanza, I was hoping that someone would be there picking me up. I had called the International Officer, Mary Mushi, in the morning to confirm my arrival time. My last experience from a University organised airport pick-up wasn’t very successful – but then again that was in the UK… After waiting for a while it hit me, that I might be spending the night in a hotel in town.
After waking up the driver, Benedict, I did finally get a ride to SAUT (Saint Augustine University of Tanzania). 🙂 Apparently the guy used to play for Yanga, one of the biggest football clubs in Tanzania. I tried to find out what happened to the train service between Dar and Mwanza, but all I found out was that it was not maintained, and people were stealing parts of the tracks. Shame.
Ben turned out being extremely helpful in showing me where to get the registration sorted out, etc. Him and a Business Admin lecturer walked me around the campus on Monday evening, and on Tuesday morning I got a ride to the Admin offices. By 2pm on Tuesday I got my student card.
Student ID
One of the main questions you get from anyone you meet here is, why don’t you go and study in your own country?
Where do I start? I’m tempted to move to the Dar campus. It is different being somewhere where you barely know anyone.
Binti Simba 