Crtd 05-01-01 Lastedit 06-10-10

Exploration and a False Start
(Mwanza trip 1)

In October 2004, after some talks with a more modern shipyard near Jinja ran by Egyptians, ending with an offer costing US$ 200 000,-  , I headed for harbour towns in Kenya and Tanzania in search for traditional shipyards. Mwanza, in Tanzania, at the South side of Lake Victoria, the the third major Victoria Lake harbour town after Kampala and Kisumu (see map), turned out to be the place.
Lying in Tanzania at the South side  of Lake Victoria, Mwanza and its surroundings are covered with steep rocky hills of the type you find at many Mediterranian coast lines. It is built where the big river Magogo has already widened to some kilometers (the Mwanza Gulf) and enters the lake. Speke considered Jinja's river outflow from the lake the "source of the Nile", so here is one of the biggest sources of the source of the Nile.

Mwanza bay, tradional painting, four photo's badly joined by the author.

My plan was just to spy on dhow sailors and builders, in order to be able to supervise the building process that I thought could best take place in my home town Jinja. But these ideas changed in three days. On day one I simply roamed along harbor sites to find sailors and ship builders speaking a bit of English.

Quite soon, I saw a tall slender grey haired mzungu busy firing a crowd of welders working at quite an old shabby cargo ship.

Picture: Mwanza south bay with industrial harbour

Hello, my name is Bert Hamminga.
Kees. What are you doing here?
Ehh, I was a professor in philosophy, but they kicked me out.
You were too good I presume?
That is my opinion, I concede reluctantly.
You want a sailing ship? Why don't you order a prefabricated set of steel plates? It arrives neatly packed in a container and we weld it together, we are very good at that. It takes two weeks.
Kees van Vianen writes down the web address.
Camping with that little truck? The real place is the Yacht Club. Off to the Yacht Club and a plunge in the lake. What, bilharzia.
At the Yacht Club they knew a Tanzanian carpenter and ship repairman who knows English (Kiswahili is the language in Tanzania) and could guide me along the traditional dhow shipyards. Jeremia.
On day two Jeremia an I visited two yards and discussed my plans and drawings.
On day three, I seriously started to consider having my dhow built in Mwanza. I was taken to a third yard, ran by Mr. Nkaka (as much left of the middle of the photo above as the smoke is right). It featured a complete dhow hull that was common property of the yard and a bankrupt Tanzanian called Mazara who was unable to raise the funds to finish his investment project. The hull, made of mninga hardwood, the tropical hardwood traditionally used for dhows, was roughly of my planned size (15 meter overall length) and technically excellent. My advantage would be that I would need to pay advances only for the finishing of the dhow, paying the hull only after the ship was tested and found in order. Thus my risks and worries would be very limited.
We agreed for US$ 10 000,- .

In those few days of common visits I got to know Jeremia as a sympathetic, intelligent and honest man. Moreover he had a continuous working relation with the Yacht Club, as a result of which he was a long known person to Kees and other Yacht Club members. I asked him to be my controller, and Kees could hold my money deposit. Though totally unexpected before the voyage had started, there was a real perspective for a remote dhow building project.
I returned to Jinja. There I got the message that neither Nkaka nor his bankrupt partner Mazara would agree unless I payed for the hull before any work would have been done.
My reply: Nkaka and Mazara were stuck in a problem. Since five years an unpainted wooden hull lies rotting in Nkaka's ship yard. Here I come helping them out. In two months, if Nkaka's promises come true, this boat is finished with the help my money. In addition, we have found a buyer: myself! So, when it is ready, everybody is sure to get his share. If this hull could lie idle on the yard during five years, and probably forever after, then why not wait two months more for the money?
But the gentlemen persisted.
So, in December 2004, they lost the job, and I decided to go to Mwanza to select another dhow yard.