Stuck

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We arrived in Mwanza having been told by the Safari company that there was a Hydrofoil across Lake Victoria. I didn't believe this for a minute, but the lonely planet did say that there were boats across to Uganda. When we got there we walked to the Lake and luckily met a very nice guy from Rwanda. He spoke very good English which wasn't very common in Tanzania and also turned out to be finding out about boats to Port Bell, Uganda. He explained that there weren't any ferries since the ferry (MV Victoria) sank a few years ago (after my 2001 guide book) - I then remembered the news story. Since Lake Victoria was land locked there was no way to get another boat there easily and a new one would have to be built at the lake - there were no plans for that to happen. There was a boat to Bukoba in Tanzania, and then an arduous multi-bus many hour land trip to get to Kampala. He was heading to the Cargo port to see if he could get a ride on a cargo ship. He introduced us to a customs guy who said to call him later to find out if a boat was going tomorrow.
I had an interesting conversation with the guy from Uganda who helped us get a taxi to a hotel. He was hoping to visit family in Uganda to find work since he wasn't finding it easy in Tanzania. He explained how difficult it was for him being a refugee from Rwanda and it was very surprising given his language skills that he couldn't find work I thought, but then I guess he didn't have any legal right to work. Kristen was a little suspicious of him, but I felt fairly sure of his integrity and he was very grateful when, upon leaving I gave him half a dollar for some food. This was also a good indication of his trustworthiness since many beggers when asking for money for food balk when you give them enough for a meal and seem to want a lot more!
Mwanza turned out to be a lively trading town and we found an ok room in a business hotel in the center of town. We explored the town a little and also went to the port and found out about the ferries to Bukoba. We were very reluctant to take one of these ferries due to the expected nightmare land journey to Uganda from the boat. I called the customs guy and he told us that there were no cargo boats tomorrow.
I bumped into 3 tall Dutch guys working as volunteers in a nearby village and it turned out they were taking a week off and going to Uganda for some rafting on the Nile and were also in the hunt for a berth on a cargo ship. To cut a fairly long and dusty story short we spent the next 2 days (it seemed like longer) calling the port and finding out the cargo ship wasn't going. There wasn't anything to do in Mwanza so we played a lot of cards and started to get a little restless. Maybe we should have gone back to Arusha after the safari and taken the good bus lines to Kampala through Kenya - that was a quick route! On the third day in Mwanza I called the customs guy and he told me no boats to Uganda, but then the Dutch guys showed up and told us they had spoken to a captain at the port and we could get on a boat late in the afternoon! We were so pleased to have had them helping us. We packed our bags and headed to the port late afternoon. We waited around for a while and then spoke to the first mate who offered us some rooms for some small compensation for the crew whose rooms we were taking. It was a good deal and we got a nice cabin for the two of us, and the three Dutch guys shared another. The boat left at about 6 pm and it was a pretty sunset and lake view until dinner was served. We slept pretty early - excited to be moving on from Mwanza and at about lunch time the next day we docked at Port Bell. It was a quick visit to immigration and the port and $35 later we were on a bus heading to Kampala. We said goodbye to the Dutch guys and found a hotel in Kampala.

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