After descending from the mountains, we arrived in Bujumbura on the northeastern shore of Lake Tanganyika, the second deepest lake in the world after Lake Baikal. The country’s largest city, Bujumbura, was the capital until 2019, when it was designed as the economic capital. It lies at the northeastern end of Lake Tanganyika. The city’s old section comprises buildings from the German and Belgian colonial periods, as well as a central market filled with hundreds of vendor booths.
Bujumbura grew from a small village in 1889 when it became a military post in German East Africa. After World War I, it was made the administrative center of the Belgian League of Nations mandate of Ruanda-Urundi. The name was changed from Usumbura to Bujumbura when Burundi became independent in 1962. Since independence, Bujumbura has been the scene of frequent fighting between the country’s two main ethnic groups, with Hutu militias opposing the Tutsi-dominated Burundi Army during the Burundian Civil War.
We didn’t feel welcome in the city, where so many unfriendly soldiers and policemen always stopped us to take photos around downtown. There was literally nothing to see, and we had explored downtown within a few minutes. We also did our shopping in a small supermarket, Casino, which was stocked like a shop in the Eastern Block during socialism. It was a bit desperate, so we tried several of them, but the others were also severely stocked.
The city looks much better at night. We had a good dinner at the overpriced Waka Waka pizzeria. Later, we enjoyed our time in Zanzi (Amstel 8000 BIF), followed by a visit to the Arena Nightclub (Bacardi Bottle 1 l – 330,000 BIF) and Cristal Lounge.
We parked at Saga Beach, about 5km northwest of the capital on the banks of Tanganyika Lake. It is the most beautiful and used to be known as Plage des Cocotiers (Coconut Beach). We ate our breakfasts at the nearby Eden Resort, which has a lovely garden and swimming pool. Since there was no usable taxi application, we usually negotiated the price from our parking location to downtown, which ranged from 20,000 BIF to 30,000 BIF.
Parking location – Bujumbura: 3.350402S 29.315545E (🚻,🅿️70,000 BIF)