We woke up early to drive 300 kilometers to Mwanza in one day. We were unsure if the road would be rough, as we had experienced two days ago on the stretch from the Kabanga border to Lusahunga. However, to our surprise, from Lusahunga, we drove all the way on a lovely, wide tarmac road to Mwanza.
We experienced a slight delay at Busisi, in front of the new Kigongo–Busisi Bridge, where we still needed to take the ferry (🎟️ 13,000 TZS) to cross the Gulf of Mwanza, a part of Lake Victoria. The bridge, officially known as the John Pombe Magufuli Bridge, is scheduled to open in 2025, following nearly six years of construction. The bridge spans 3.2 kilometres across the Gulf of Mwanza, linking the areas of Kigongo in the Mwanza Region and Busisi in the Geita Region, cutting crossing time from thirty-five minutes by ferry to four minutes by car. It is reported to be the longest bridge in East Africa and the sixth-longest on the African continent.
