The best starting point is the
large roundabout or rotary near Lake Victoria (and near the Tourism Information
Office, TIO) from where the three main roads are leading: to the East (Nyerere
Road), to the South (Kenyatta Road), and to the airport in the North (Makongoro
Road). Near the clock tower in the grass in middle of the roundabout is an
inscription recalling that in 1858 the British explorer John Speke was the
first European to see from nearby Isamilo Hill the waters of Nyanza which
he called Lake Victoria after the reigning British Queen. He correctly claimed
it to be the source of the river Nile.
On the wall of the clock tower is a War Memorial of the British. During the
First World War
British troops coming from
Kenya and Uganda drove out the German garrison of Mwanza
who fled to Tabora to the south. The British administered Tanganyika up to
1961.
There are a number of monuments
from the German Period, which lasted only from the
early 1890s to 1916. Across the street in the direction of the lake are former
German
offices with a decorative small wall in
front. Here criminals were condemned and hanged
on the Gallows Tree, the trunk of which remains in the middle of the road
to the East.
On the hill to the east of Makongoro road, one can see a German Watch Tower
which
was part of a large fortress now used by the Regional Commissioner as his
official
residence. From there down to the lake there exists an underground tunnel
(now closed).
But in Balewa Street a deep well built entrance to the tunnel can be visited
in the garden
of a former German house. Along the way on the right one finds old German
buildings.
At the roundabout one can see three monuments of early Tanzania: the
Independence
Torch, a mural painting on the wall of the Bank of Tanzania building
in the style of
Socialist Realism, and the CCM Building, the first skyscraper of Mwanza. Like
Kirumba
Sports Stadium it was built by all the residents of Mwanza under the One Party
Rule.
To the east of the roundabout lies the Indian Quarter of Mwanza. At the entrance
of the Gandhi Hall stands a sculpture of the founder of modern India who was
born and lived for several years in South Africa. We read that the last British
Governor of Tanganyika, Sir Edward Twining, opened the hall in 1957. On the
inscription to the right, we read that it was built by Patels from Bombay
or Mumbai who were then living in Mwanza.
Many beautiful buildings constructed by Indians are still preserved. One can
easily recognize them because of the symbols used by their Hindu and Moslem
owners. In Bantu Street lies a Moslem building constructed in 1938. Passing
the renovated ice cream bar, at the corner with Nkrumah Street are two long,
one storey buildings constructed in 1938. Then there is the Shia Mosque with
its large meeting hall to the north that is well kept. Following along Nkrumah
Street to the north at the corner with Uhuru Street is the Natwar Villa constructed
in 1947 with a beautiful balcony. Further along this street is the Vedic Ariyan
Temple constructed in 1952. Fortunately