The road west...

This trip will take us to places we have never seen. Driving right beside the famous Serengeti game park is a great way to begin our research trip to Western Tanzania.  It is always glorious to see God’s creation wild and free.  The road travels between the Serengeti and Speke Bay, a bay of Lake Victoria named for the explorer John Speke, the British explorer.

We travel via Mwanza, the second largest city in Tanzania, Dar-es Salaam being the largest.

Interestingly, many houses in Mwanza are built on the hills along the shore of Lake Victoria.

After waiting almost two hours at the loading dock, we finally get a glimpse of the ferry, loaded down with passengers, buses and trucks heading toward our dock.

Taking the ferry across a small part of Lake Victoria, the largest tropical body of fresh water in the world is exciting. While we will only cross a small inlet on the ferry, it will take us almost an hour.

Loading is quite an ordeal with trucks, buses, motorcycles, pedestrians and us all crowding onto the boat, which, hopefully, is in good repair.  Parking at the back of the ferry means we will be the last to drive off on the other side, but it puts us near the only lifeboat.  I hope that we will not need it!



Shouting voices compete with the roar of the engine; hawkers walk between the vehicles selling everything from fruits and vegetables to loaves of bread, drinks and watches, combs, mirrors, belts – my goodness, you can buy just about anything on this ferry!

As we are in the back, we have a corner all to ourselves, which is nice as Jerry is using the GPS to track the route across the lake.

Notice the sign on the door behind him – Engine room and escape route!  I am not sure about that one!

After 55 minutes – yes, we timed it – we arrive at Kamanga, a small village with a dirt road.  We travel another hour and half, spend the night and drive all day the next day – three days travel to get to Kigoma our first destination west. After that, we will travel another two days south to get to some of the people groups we are researching.

Tanzania is a huge country.  It is 1.36 times the size of Texas or twice the size of California.  Mountains and game reserves in the interior make it difficult to go from East to West across the country.

Pray for us as we travel these dirt roads.
Pray that God would make us sensitive to hear His voice and find the person He has for us to visit.
Pray that we can collect good information, which will enable us to find the people groups who are not being reached by the message of salvation through Christ.