Get Immersed in Ujiji

By Hugh Finlay

"Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" Yes, this is the spot where those famous words were uttered in 1871. The village of Ujiji, on the shores of Lake Tanganyika in far western Tanzania, is one of Africa's oldest market villages and offers the perfect opportunity to immerse yourself in a quintessential African village. Better yet, very few visitors make the journey. The spot where the actual meeting supposedly occurred is marked by two mango trees, said to have been grafted from the original under which the two men met. The village also has a thriving dhow-building industry—men use construction methods little changed over the centuries, building dhows by hand right on the beach. Ujiji is reached by local transport from Kigoma.

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