Livingstone Memorial Museum

Western Tanzania


The site where the immortal words, ‘Dr Livingstone, I presume?’ were uttered by Stanley on meeting Livingstone in 1871 is commemorated by a stark grey monument inside a chain-link fence. The two mango trees here (two others died) are said to have been grafted from the original tree that shaded the two men during their encounter. Below, and part of the same complex, the Livingstone Memorial Museum holds some artefacts and printed placards about the East African slave trade.

There are also a few paintings by local artists and papier-mâché replicas of Stanley and Livingstone. The admission fee may seem steep but the Livingstone and Stanley story is worth knowing and the humble museum's effort to recount the horrors of the slave trade makes it an interesting stop.