Ferry Across Lake Tanganyika

Lake Tanganyika:

There is a twice-monthly ferry service to Mpulungu in northern Zambia across Lake Tanganyika from Kigoma in Tanzania and Bujumbura in Burundi.

The journey takes 3 days and is often subject to long delays.

Ferry operator:

Marine Services Company Limited, Tanzania
Telephone: +255 280 2811
Email: marinekigoma@hotmail.com

The passenger and cargo ferry, the MV Liemba, formerly the Graf von Goetzen, was built in 1913 in Germany and was one of three German vessels on Lake Tanganyika during the early part of the First World War.  Scuttled on 26 July 1916 during the German retreat from Kigoma, she lay submerged in Katabe Bay until 1924 when a British Royal Navy salvage team raised her.  In 1927 she returned to service as the MV Liemba, the last vessel of the Kaiserliche Marine still actively sailing.

The British attempt to sink the Graf von Goetzen is the subject of the book Mimi and Toutou Go Forth by Giles Foden and was the basis for CS Forester's novel and John Huston’s film The African Queen.