Explore Burundi is our series featuring cultural information and insights into the place where we work, and where you help us bring hope to so many.
Bujumbura is the largest city, main port of Burundi, and former capital. Largely frozen in time due to more than a decade of conflict, there has been very little development within the city. The lack of development and investment runs through the rest of the country as well, due to certain governmental regulations that make it difficult for international organizations to operate in the country – one of the many reasons that our work building clean water systems in Burundi is so vital!
The city of Bujumbura retains much of its colonial town planning, with wide boulevards and imposing public buildings. Buju (as it's commonly known) has always retained an obviously different feel to any other East African capital, much of which is manifest in the city's distinctly French outlook on life. During more peaceful times, Bujumbura earned a freewheeling reputation for its dining, drinking and dancing scene; despite its village-like size this is one of the best places for dining in East Africa.
In December 2018, Burundian president Pierre Nkurunziza announced that he would follow through on a 2007 promise to return the central city of Gitega to its former political capital status, with Bujumbura remaining as economic capital and center of commerce.
Bujumbura is located on the shores of scenic Lake Tanganyika, which covers most of Burundi’s western border and is also the world’s longest freshwater lake. Lake Tanganyika and associated wetlands are home to Nile crocodiles and at least 250 species of cichlid fish.
Lake Tanganyika is also home to Gustave, a large male Nile crocodile. He is notorious for being a man-eater, and is rumored to have killed as many as 300 people. Though the actual number is difficult to verify, he has obtained near-mythical status and was greatly feared by people in the region.
Since Gustave has not been captured, his exact length and weight are unknown, but in 2002 a National Geographic documentary stated that he could be "easily more than 18 feet long, and weigh more than 2,000 pounds. He was estimated to be around 60 years old.