Discover Inland Sport Fishing in Tanzania
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.
The rivers and lakes in Tanzania are inhabited by plenty of fish during the rainy season, making the period after the short and long rains the most suitable for taking a sports fishing safari. The long rains fall in April and May, while the short rains come between November and December. The Rufiji River, Mwanza, Musoma, and Lake Tanganyika are some of the best fishing spots in Tanzania.
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.
Both salty and freshwater fishing opportunities exist on Rufiji River, which is the largest river in Tanzania. Freshwater fishing takes place in the size-able 21 lakes in the Rufiji floodplain area along River Rufiji and in hundreds of ponds and creeks. These lakes and creeks fill up during the annual floods and they yield excellent catches of fish. Salty water fishing is normally done near the Rufiji coast, where good conditions for prawn fishing exist on the sandbanks off the Rufiji Delta.
Another popular fishing activity among Tanzania visitors is fly fishing. The rivers and streams of Tanzania provide good spots for fly fishing.
