Ujiji is the small Swahili-Arab port a few kilometres south of Kigoma where one of the most famous meetings in 19th-century African exploration took place. Long before the colonial railway brought Kigoma into existence, Ujiji was the most important trading town on Lake Tanganyika — a terminus of the caravan routes from the East African coast, dealing in ivory and slaves, and a base for the Arab traders who controlled the lake's commerce.
The Livingstone Memorial today is a modest affair: a small whitewashed monument under a pair of mango trees said to have grown from cuttings of the original tree where the meeting took place, and a one-room museum with charmingly amateurish dioramas. The site sees few visitors and the keepers are usually pleased to talk you through the displays. It is the atmosphere of the place that lingers — the still air, the rooftops, the lake glittering through the palms — rather than the exhibits.