
Ujiji
on Lake Tanganyika

Lake Tanganyika

visited by Burton and Speke in 1858

monument to Livingstone

at the place where he was met by Stanley

depiction of the event in the site museum
Livingstone’s final expedition lasted from 1866 until his death in 1873. Accompanying him throughout were two Africans: Chuma, a freed slave, and Susi, a man employed earlier to work on an expedition steamer. Livingstone tried once more, unsuccessfully, to penetrate eastern Africa by way of the Ruvuma River. Then, ridden with various fevers and becoming increasingly frail, he explored Lake Nyasa, Lake Mweru, Lake Bangweulu, and the watercourses of rivers flowing into and out of these lakes. From Ujiji on Lake Tanganyika he accompanied a group of Arab slave traders westward, in March 1871, becoming the first European to reach the Lualaba River. Livingstone theorized that the Lualaba was the headwaters of the Nile (it is actually the headwaters of the Congo River), but instability caused by slave raiding made further exploration impossible. With his health deteriorating, he made it back to Ujiji in October.
![]()
Ujiji as it looks today

typical dwelling

street scene

tailor shop

mosque

woman


in front of the tea room


![]()
Return to David Livingstone page
![]()