The journey from Tanzania to Zambia aboard the MV Liemba
In the middle of Africa, there is an old German ship traveling up and down a lake. It is sailing on Lake Tanganyika, from Kigoma in Tanzania to the port of Mpulungu in Zambia. It’s history is rather peculiar. Built in Papenburg, Germany, in 1913, the ship was disassembled and transported to the Tanzanian port of Dar Salaam, back then a colony known as German East Africa. From there it was transported on the newly constructed railroad to the lakeshore in Kigoma. It then served under the name of Graf Goetzen as a battleship to control the strategically important lake, but after only two years – this is towards the end of World War I – it became clear to the Germans that they were losing there colonial territories to the British, and they wanted to prevent at all costs that the Graf Goetzen would fall into British hands. So they sank the ship by filling it with sand at the mouth of the Magrasi river, but not before greasing all moving parts and the engines in the hope to return her to the surface at some point.
As we have been told ‚there are no secrets in Africa‘, and the British soon learned of the location of the sunk Graf Goetzen. After eight years on the bottom of Lake Tanganyika, she was salvaged, and thanks to the thorough work of the Germans the ship was doing just fine.
Almost a hundred years later, the same ship is still plying Lake Tangyanika. The former steamboat has been fitted with a diesel engine, some overhauls have been done, but the most of the ship is simply how it was a century ago. The difference is that these days, it sails in friendly mission with dried fish and pineapples instead of canons on board, and there is a Tanzanian captain steering it safely through the sometimes high waves of the lake. His name is Captain Titus, and he kindly agreed to an interview while we were on board of ‚his ship‘. These days, the former MS Graf von Goetzen sails under the name of MV Liemba – the name Liemba refers to an old name for the southern part Lake Tanganyika.
What’s the significance of the Liemba for the region today? „It’s the heart of the lake“, Captain Titus tells us. It serves many small villages along the Tanzanian side of the lakeshore that have no roads, so their inhabitants truly depend on the Liemba as a connection to the outside world. The Liemba runs only every two weeks, but what her arrival means to these communities, can be felt, seen and heard. Whenever the ship sounds its horn and stops its engines on the lake – 32 of the 34 stops between Kigoma and Mpulungu are just out on the water as the villages have no harbour – the villagers paddle out in small boats, and the excitement knows no boundaries. There are people singing and drumming, just celebrating the fact that the boat has arrived. But there is also just as much screaming and shouting, shoving and pulling as hordes of people get off into the small boats, others climb from the latter onto the Liemba – at times it can seem like this is a boat full of refugees fighting for their lives. 600 passengers and 200 tons of cargo swing into motion. Like luggage and pinapples, babies are thrown through the air, to be just about caught by their mothers. Handles of suitcases brake, boxes fall into the water. This seemingly crazy loading process happens day and night . In the dark, the tiny wooden vessels appear out of nowhere, tossed around by the waves and only barely illuminated with small oil lamps. Are there many accidents, we ask capitain Titus. „Not many, overall it’s quite safe“. But then he is quick to add „It’s the survival of the fittest“.
We witness this rather darwinistic approach to passenger safety first-hand. During one of the nightly stops on the first evening on the boat, a giant bag of dried fish is transferred from a small wooden boat into the cargo compartment of the Liemba with the help of the cargo crane. The massive steel hook swings dangerously across the main deck which is full of people guarding their belongings or sleeping next to them. I hold my breath while it barely misses a baby, strapped to its mother’s back. Finally the hand-sown gigantic fish bag is secured to the hook and it soars across the deck. Just before it reaches the opening of the cargo compartment, the handle rips and the bag crashes down on the deck, right onto a girl that is sleeping there curled up on the floor. When some helpers roll the bag over, she lays there unconcious. The staff of the boat does not include anyone who is medically trained – Benjamin, a medical student from Newcastle, who we met a few days before and who is also travelling on the ship with us, attends to her along with another traveller who turns out to be a doctor. She finally turned out to be ok, but the incident brings the message home how desperate a situation can get in this part of the world should you need doctor let alone a hospital. Captain Titus later tells us that „there is a first aid-kit on board“. Reassuring to know.
With the passengers, the main deck changes its appearance with every stop, like a canvas that has a different picture on it every time you look at it. The spectacle starts with the first loading of the ship in Kigoma. According to Captain Titus, the MV Liemba charges passengers for their cargo by weight – 54,000 Tanzanian shillings per ton for the whole way from Kigoma to Mpulungu – that is about 26 Euros. „How they get their cargo on and off and take care of it while on the boat is their own business“. In practice, people hire porters to carry their stuff on board, and the process of fighting for space on the deck, 
discussing who piles his things on top of what and rerranging the disarray of items is endless. Is the system efficient? „It works fine, perfect, no problems“ says Captain Titus. With several hours delay, we finally leave Kigoma, and the deck features mattresses, bikes, a living goose packed in a plastic bag, and incredible amounts of pineapples piled neatly in every corner. As we make slow progress on our way to Zambia, the pineapples slowly disappear, as they are traded for kapente (small dried fish), rice, beans and yellow canisters of palmoil. Eventually, the cargo consists almost exclusively of kapente, and the dried fish is everywhere. Not only in the bags, that some women constantly mend with giant sewing needles, but it’s also sprinkled along the hallways in the ship, and even in the air we breathe. Titus explains that the fish is a currency around the lake and in Zambia. It is traded for maize flour, processed goods like juices and brown sugar, and these commodities then fill the deck of the Liemba on her way back from Zambia to Tanzania. He also tells us that many of the passengers are trading agents that shuttle up and down the lake regularly, basically never leaving the ship.
In Kasanga, the last stop before the Tanzanian-Zambian border, the Liemba makes her only stop on a proper harbour so far. Rumours spread across the ship that we are going to stay overnight here. The Liemba is scheduled to arrive at the Zambian port of Mpulungu after a three day journey on Friday around noon, but apparently this is just a guideline. Captain Titus owns the time on this ship, and as the sun goes down over Lake Tanganyika, we are still anchored in Kasanga and even the last doubting travellers understand that we will get to Zambia a day later than expected. Nobody really cares, worries or seems even surprised – this is Africa. So we have another Tusker beer with our fellow foreign travellers on the boat – Jo from Hong-Kong who has been working with refugees in Congo for the last three years, Papa Kingsley the explorer and adventurer, who has made travelling his job and has been all across Africa for the last 35 years, Cathy and Chris, two American retirees who have decided to backpack for a few month through Eastern Africa. It’s a vibrant mix of characters, and quite frankly, we are all rather happy to get an extra night and day on the Liemba. It’s the best and worst of Africa in a nutshell, or in this case in a century-old German shell. African life plays out like theater in front of the balcony of the cabins. It makes you laugh and cry at the same time, and often just lets you stand in disbelief. At times, you feel lucky to be able to retreat from the chaos into your first-class cabin, but then again the excitement out there draws you out onto the deck every five minutes. The journey on the Liemba is one to remember, and it’s as unique as the history of the vessel itself. But consider yourself warned by capitain Titus: only the fittest survive on here.
Thanks to Captain Titus for taking the time to talk to us, to Kingsley Holgate for arranging the interview and sharing his travel inspiration and to Frank Hanisch for telling us about the Liemba back in Laos. More details about the history MV Liemba can be found here.
Going there yourself?
Travel tips for the MV Liemba
- see: just watch the drama unfold beneath the balcony, drop by the bridge and the engine room of the MV Liemba, old German fortress at the harbour of Kasanga
- get there: nice 2day journey by train from Dar-Es-Salaam to Kigoma, by road 2 days from Kigali, RW
- stay: 1st class cabin (2 bunk beds & sink, US$100/person – 2nd class $90, 3rd class $70 but don’t be tempted), cabin no.1 (ours :-)) has the best views, Liemba usually leaves Kigoma every 2nd Wednesday but inquire about current schedule / book ahead via email to the Liemba manager Mr. Abel
- avoid: making plans for Friday in Mpulungu
