Fishing
Lake Victoria is the largest lake in Africa, filling a shallow depression not deeper than 80 metres between the Western and Eastern Rift Valleys. It is home to around 300 different species of unique tropical fish, known as cichlids. One of the commonest larger pieces is the Tilapia. It is a regional speciality, grilled or fried and eaten whole.
Scientists differ over how such a dazzling variety of species came to evolve in this largely uniform environment in not more than one million years. Some claim that, at some stage in its history, the lake must have dried into a couple of small lakes in which the fish evolved separately.
Unfortunately, the cichlid population has decreased tremendously over the last three to four decades. The Nile Perch, a voracious carnivore fish native to the Nile but not to the lake, may be the main cause for the extinction. In the mid 50s the species was introduced to the lake to control mosquitoes. It established itself very quickly and led to fishing and trading boom for the local communities. The Nile Perch can grow to weigh as much as 250kg, and are both eaten locally as well as abroad.
Though over-fishing is just one of the factors responsible for the deterioration of Lake Victoria and its shorelines, a morning off for the casual visitor with one of the local fishermen would do no harm. If you enjoy fishing, they are more than happy to welcome you on board of their wooden home made boats at a small fee. Whether in Kisumu, Homa Bay or Mbita, you will be offered a morning boat ride and be given the traditional fishing rod made from a tree with exceptional lean yet strong branches.
Beautiful are the mornings where you quietly enjoy the sunrise a few hundred metres off the shore. If you are lucky you can, apart from your fishing bate, also watch the neighbouring hippo clan resting and cooling in the waters nearby.
By 9am you can call it a day, selling your catch to the local market women who have been waiting for you back on the shoreline.
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