Kampala to Bukoba or Mwanza

Sorry i meant to say from Kampala

Akamba Bus (located near the National Theater in Kampala) travels to Mwanza via the East side of the lake. Get a ticket the day before. I think the bus ride was about 12 hours, maybe more, often times on bowel rattling roads in a bus held together by rust. The cost is cheap.

I think other bus companies might do this route too (Scanavia), and they are supposed to have better buses, but I don't know what that means and I don't know schedules, cost, etc.

You can also fly (Precision Air?) which costs a lot but takes 45 minutes and you get a great view of the lake.

thanks for the info

I took the Akamba bus both back and forth between Mwanza-Kampala, and I would not recommend it. Scandinavian express has much nicer buses, although I think you might have to go through Nairobi before going to Mwanza. I was told the trip Mwanza-Kampala would take around 18 hours (so I figured 24, considering it's east africa...). 18 hours turned into 35 hours from hell. The bus(es) broke down 3 times, and we had to wait for new ones for hours and hours. Also, being the only mzungo/non-east-african, I almost missed the bus everytime it stopped at the borders since I had to get visas and nobody else did, and it only stopped for a few minutes.

Although the trip back to Mwanza was much better (bus only broke down once), I would still recommend taking Scandinavian express.

As far as ferries go, there are no passenger ferries connecting Kampala and Mwanza. However, getting on a cargo ship can be organized. Going from Uganda-Tanzania you need to organize a letter of permission from the railway director at the station (at least this is what I had to do).

Good luck!

Thilda