Most taxi drivers know Jakobsen Beach. If they don’t, ask them to drive to Katonga village, and there they can ask people for Mwamahunga or Jakobsen Beach. From the airport, a taxi takes about 20 minutes to our place, and may cost around 15,000 TSh.(February 2013)
From Kigoma town, take the dalla-dalla towards Katonga. Some 800 metres before Katonga, there is a signposted turn-off to the right. Get off the bus there. The turn-off will take you to the beach. It is a 15-20 minutes’ walk.
With your back to the railway station, turn right. Follow the tarmac about 4 km. You will pass the Tanesco power station on your left, the prison on your right, and then also pass the turnoff to Kigoma Hilltop Hotel on your right. About 4 km from the railway station, you will see a turnoff to the right signposted ’Jakobsen Beach’. From there, you have almost 2km of bumpy bushroad. Altogether it is a 10 minutes’ drive from town.
Cross the border at Manyovu*. The Manyovu-Kigoma drive takes an hour and a half. The Bujumbura-Kigoma drive takes 5 hours. On the Burundi side, the last 25 km are gravel road. On the Tanzanian side, the road was recently redone (2010), with tarmac all the way to Kigoma. *Immigration info: You'll get to the Burundi office BEFORE you reach the actual border. When estimating time, bear in mind that the office on the Tanzanian side is one hour ahead of Burundi time.
There is a daily bus service from Bujumbura to Kigoma that takes 5-6 hours. This usually involves changing buses at the border.
There are regular buses to Kigoma from Mwanza, Arusha, Tabora, Mpanda and Dar es salaam.
The airport has re-opened after renovations. There are flights to Mwanza, Tabora and Dar Es Salaam. Schedules change, so check with the airline companies: Precision Air and Air Tanzania . (written February 2013)
The Dar-Kigoma train takes 48 hours, and passes through Dodoma and Tabora. The schedule varies, but should be twice a week, arriving and departing from Kigoma every Thursday and Sunday. Only third class is available. (November 2012: We hear the trip is extremely uncomfortable these days, and so we advise against taking the train except for very short distances.)
Recently, driving times have been 12 hours from Mwanza, and 8 hours from Katavi National Park.
The famous MV Liemba still runs up and down the lake, from Mpulungu, Zambia, to Kigoma. The Mpulungu-Kigoma trip takes two days. It should leave from Kigoma every second Wednesday, and arrive from Mpulungu every second Sunday. However the schedule varies. It calls at Kasanga port and several villages on the Tanzanian side.
Some guests have caught a ride with one of the cargo boats on their Kalemie-Kigoma route. These are both ships and smaller wooden boats with outboard engines. We hear that the schedules are less reliable with the larger vessels.
It’s best to know beforehand that there is no restaurant here. All our accommodation is equipped for self-catering, so if you bring food from town, you can cook your own. Picnic on the beach? Barbecue on the sunset deck? Coffee and cakes under the mango tree? The choice is yours. (But don’t feed the monkeys. Don’t eat the zebras. Please!)
The schedules of Liemba, planes and trains keep changing. We use Facebook to let you know about changes as soon as we hear of them. If you want to be kept updated, visit our Facebook page and click 'Like'. Or you can ask fellow-travellers for advice on Lonely Planet's Thorntree Forum by clicking here.
