Chums,

I have just found some brief notes my father and I made in the 1970's when talking to my grandfather about his movements in GEA and France in WW1.

I have a conundrum!

One note says "Tabora to Lake Nigiari" now where the heck is Lake Nigiari? I presume it must be close to the main central railway otherwise he would not have got there easily.

Secondly " Ngen Goro - salt / soda lake" now the nearest I can google is Ngorongoro which does indeed have a soda lake, this comment follows "Kondoa Irangi" which may have been a feasible trip but access must have been difficult etc.


Folks possessing old maps of East Africa or other aficionados of colonial geography may shed some light on these locations.


There is no prize this time but any effort will be rewarded I am sure.


Roop

Roop

I cannot find the name on my maps (but my collection is very rudimentary) but this snippet of a 1901 map shows an unamed lake south-west of Lake Eyasi on the Sibiti.

Click to view attachment

Carl

Thanks for that Carl, it is a start and worth following up. I too have a very poor map collection for the period in question so it may prove elusive. I have however, sent an email to a collegue in Tanzania to see what he can turn up on the ground.

Roop

Roop

I have searched for this name of the lake in some old detail maps, but don´t find the name.
In fact that the most units of all parties have had gone South-east wards from Tabora during
the Great War in GEA, I had a special eye between Tabora and the South part of GEA.
Could it be a unit who was involved into the actions around Tabora and the later action areas?
In which connection and background you read this name? Naybe the location is in PEA or NR?

Holger

I am no student of the East African campaign but Lake Nyasa is mentioned often & there was some action around the area , especially when the Germans broke into Portuguese territory, also an allied expedition started from Lake Nyasa.

No doubt you will know all this but I thought it may help.

Colin.

Colin

Thanks for response. Yes, Lake Nyasa (or Lago Niassa, Njassa See or Lake Malawi) was very
big (about 30.000 sqm) and well known. Nyasa means in the language of the old Chichewa = Water.
I think Roop look for Lake Nigiari. It must be a smaller Lake.

Holger

Ayup Chums,

Nigiari is I believe the meaning of black which is associated with some soda lakes.

The locations were given verbally in the 70's and would have to be either along the route from Kondoa to Dodoma or along the Central Railway or south of Morogoro towards the Rufigi River.

I have had no sucess with these names despite numerous enquiries, pity I didnt get a map out 30 odd years ago when grandfather was still alive.

Thanks for your efforts but I fear we will never know exactly where he meant.


Roop

Hi

try this link:

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/imw/index_africa.html

by clicking the coloured squares you get highly detailed maps in 1:1.000.000

I use them for finding places described in books about the GEA Campaign

regards

Olav

Olav, Thanks very much for that link, it looks a great resource.


Roop

Wasn't Lake Nyasa mentioned as being rather "black" in the book on the East African campaign ? The authors name escapes for the moment.

Colin.

Having checked my (2003 reprint) copy of the Kleiner Deutscher Kolonialatlas of 1899 for the pages covering Deutsch-Ostafrika I'm afraid that I too have failed to find a Lake Nigiari. Thought it was worth checking though.

Just a thought but there is a Lake Kitangiri about 110 miles north east of Tabora. Might this be a corruption of Nigiari?

I think you are right about Ngen Goro being Ngorongoro. It is clearly marked with a lake on the 1899 map and today of course it is a spectacular national park and well worth a visit. Go in at dawn to have lions padding alongside the Land Rover!

james

Colin , James

Thank you for your input. I have visited Ngorongoro a couple of times and agree it is quite spectacular.

An army party was sent to Ngorogoro to buy cattle from the German farmer that kept his herd there, so possibly this is a clue to why grandfather mentions it, he was afarmers son himself so may have been involved in that.

Roop

Hi, I am based in Dar es Salaam, just come upon this web site and happy to see the interest in the EA campain. I have been visiting sites from the book battel for the bundu and have found the book to be the best refrence so far.

In respect of thye lake you are looking for, is there any refrence to it being West or Tabora towards Kigoma or East towards Dodoma?
Regards,

Sean

Hi Sean,


No reference unfortunately, I suspect however that it is somewhere near the Central railway.


Roop