Retire in Paradise

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Sport fishing in Tanzania inland is increasingly becoming one of the most popular leisure activities among tourists. Even though fishing in Tanzania national parks and game reserves is prohibited, the country’s many freshwater lakes and rivers, which occupy more than 6 percent of Tanzania’s total area, offer plenty of sport fishing opportunities.

During the rainy season, the country’s rivers and their tributaries are inhabited by plenty of fish and it is therefore a good idea to take a fishing safari after the short and long rains. The short rains fall in November and December, while the long rains are received in April and May. Some of Tanzania’s best inland fishing fishing grounds are Mwanza, Musoma, Lake Tanganyika and Rufiji River.

There are plenty of tour safari companies organizing fishing safaris for visiting fishing enthusiasts seeking for best fishing experiences in Tanzania. Boatmen at the ports of Mwanza and Musoma located on Lake Victoria are so welcoming and they can also allow you to go with them on their daily fishing trips. Lake Victoria, by far the largest lake in Africa, is home to attractive freshwater tropical fish species that are imported to aquariums the world over.

Mwanza, a port town on the Southern part of lake Victoria, is one of the popular Tanzania travel destinations for a fishing safari. At Mwanza port, you can catch huge Nile Perch and Tilapia. This port city is one of the best places to get started with inland sport fishing in Tanzania. Mwanza is the cultural centre of Tanzania’s largest ethnic group, the Sukuma.

Musoma, another popular fishing safari destination, is on the Eastern shores of Lake Victoria, near the border with Kenya. You can catch plenty of Nile perch (Sangara or Chengu in the local dialect) in Musoma. In this port town, you will also find lots of boats that take visitors across Lake Victoria-the world’s largest tropical lake and second largest freshwater lake by surface area. Lake Victoria has a 3440 km shoreline and hosts over 3000 islands, many of them inhabited.

Lake Tanganyika is another popular fishing safari destination in Tanzania. Stretching across four countries - Burundi, DRC, Zambia, and Tanzania - lake Tanganyika is the world’s second largest freshwater lake by volume after lake Baikal in Siberia. The lake is home to over 350 fish species , including the Goliath Tiger Fish and the Nile Perch. Lake Tanganyika has over 2000 plant and animal species, of which 600 are not found anywhere else in the world.

Rufiji River, Tanzania’s largest river, is a popular destination for both saltwater and freshwater fishing. The Rufiji river floodplain has 21 reasonably huge lakes and hundreds of ponds and creeks which fill up during annual floods, yielding excellent fish catches. At the sandbanks of the Rufiji Delta near the coast, good conditions exist for saltwater prawn fishing.

Fly fishing in Tanzania’s rivers and streams is also becoming a favorite activity for visitors to Tanzania.