Southwest from Lake Victoria
 

I am currently in Nairobi and looking into riding around Lake Victoria and then on to Zambia.

I am struggling to find reliable information on the Tanzanian roads leading from Rwanda/Uganda.
All I have been told is that all are in bad nick and some are extremely dangerous.

Can anyone give me any information about their quality, safety, availability of fuel and water please?

The routes I am currently considering are as follows:

1. Bukoba by ferry to Mwanza, on to Tabora and then to Mbeya via Kitunda.

2.Bukoba by ferry to Mwanza, on to Tabora and then by train to Kigali, from where I can take the ferry.

3.From Kigali in Rwanda, along the southeast road into Tanzania and then via Kibondo to Kigoma

Thanks
Geoff

Not sure if this helps but in Feb 2002 I travelled from Masaka to Dar es Salam like this:
Masaka-Bukoba-Nyakanazi-Kahama-Singida-Manyoni-Dodoma-Dar Es Salam.

I got petrol in Bukoba-Lusahanga-Kahama-Singida-Dodoma and Morogoro. There might be more.
Water was no problem...
Safety, well heard some scary histories afterwards but I met nice people all the way:-)

The road was not to bad (worse then Uganda) but I guess it might be muddy when raining.
First day I went Bukoba-Kahama, next day Kahama-Puma, third day Puma-Manyoni (short day had to weld my rack) and the last day from Manyoni to Dar.

Don't miss the Murchinsons Falls and Queen Elisabeth Nationalpark. QE is the only park I know where they let you in with a bike and you can drive among lions ++

It's also a nice route north of Mt Elgon...

Hi There
I traveled this route in December, January.Catch the ferry to Mwanza,you can drive to Nyakanazi,you will need to get a police escort because of the bandits only about 30km,The road is realy good,go pass kibondo,Kasulu to kigoma. At Ujiji you can see Doctor Livingston and Speck memorial. You can catch a ferry down lake Tanganika on wednesday from Kigoma but we drove down instead, MORE OF A CHALLANGE.There is fuel at all the Bigger towns to Kigoma.If you go back to Kasulu,you can take the road south to Mpanda (turn left).This is a very very bad road with potholes that are 6 foot deep and LOADS of mud and not one person.You can get fuel at Uvinsa at a black maket, after that you will not see anyone or anything but jungle,a few smashed cars and trucks and alot of mud!!It took us 14 hours to do 180km to Mpanda,we had to follow bycicle tracks to get threw the potholes.It is not imposable to do but if you get pinned down you will have to wait for help,could be a few days. From Mpanda onwards it was like driving on a tar road!(it is still good sand road till Mbeya via Subawanba)There is fuel everywhere from there.Hope tis helps you out.This was my best part of my trip that i did in Africa, from Kasulu to Mpanda, puts everything that east africa can chuck at you in 14 hours of pure fun and adventure.Good luck and dont be shy to ask more questions.Henk

Forgot to say this,DO NOT GO INTO BURUNDI!!!
Mt trip was train from Dar to Mwansa, ferry to bokoma and drive to the gorrillas then to Jinja.From there back to Bakoma,to Kigoma and then down to Mpanda to Malawi and then to Zambia. What a TRIP!!!!