Safari Steam
East African Railways Ships

From the earliest days there was a close involvement between the railways of East Africa and the marine services of the vast lakes of that area. The original destination of the Uganda Railway was Port Florence (Kisumu) with the intention of onward connections across Lake Victoria. By the 1920s, there were marine departments of the Tanganyika Railway as well as the Uganda Railway, and with a succession of name changes and amalgamations, ultimately the East African Railways and Harbours was formed in 1948. The Harbours section was separated in 1969, but the break-up of the Federation led to the initial laying up of some the boats by 1976. In the time since, there has been some recovery but that is beyond the scope of this CD-ROM.

For more information, the informal history 'The Lake Steamers of East Africa' by Bill Dennis (ISBN 0 9523047 1 6) can be recommended. It was published by Runnymede Malthouse Publishing, Runnymede Malthouse, Egham, Surrey, UK in 1996.