Livingstone-Stanley Monument

The Livingstone-Stanley Monument stands at Mugere, about 10 kilometres south of Bujumbura, marking the approximate site of the famous 1871 meeting between Dr David Livingstone, who had been missing for years, and the journalist Henry Morton Stanley, sent to find him. The monument is modest — a stone obelisk in a lakeside setting — but the location is striking, with views over Lake Tanganyika toward Congo.

It takes about 30 minutes by taxi from Bujumbura, and combining it with a drive along the scenic lakeside road south of the city makes a pleasant half-day excursion. The road runs through fishing villages and past the lake, and is one of the more beautiful drives in Burundi.

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The phrase "Dr Livingstone, I presume?" may be the most famous words in the history of exploration — and they were almost certainly never said. Henry Morton Stanley's own journal entry for the day of the meeting is missing, and the phrase only appears later in his published account. Livingstone's diary makes no mention of it. The monument marks the approximate site of their 1871 meeting, commemorating an encounter whose most famous detail was probably fabricated.

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