The Singing Fishermen of Lake Kivu

As evening falls over western Rwanda, fishermen leave Lake Kivu’s shore in long wooden canoes, singing as they paddle. Around Karongi, their voices can often be heard across the water at dusk and near dawn, creating one of the lake’s most distinctive experiences.

Why Do the Fishermen Sing?

The fishermen’s songs serve a practical and cultural purpose. Their steady rhythm helps crews paddle connected boats in unison, while also lifting morale during long nights on the lake.

Lyrics may include jokes, prayers, praise and calls for strength, often performed through call-and-response singing and whistling.

Using Amashi, Kinyarwanda or both, these work songs are passed between generations and reflect the identity of Lake Kivu’s fishing communities.

How Night Fishing Works

Boat arrangement: Crews use three long canoes connected by wooden poles to support a large lift net and improve stability.

Setting the net: Fishermen leave in the late afternoon, choose a fishing area and lower the net beneath the boats.

Attracting the fish: Lamps are suspended above the water to draw small fish towards the net.

Lifting the catch: The crew works together to raise the heavy net and move the fish into the centre canoe, repeating the process several times overnight.

Conditions affecting the catch: Bright moonlight can reduce the effectiveness of the lamps, while weather, season and location may also influence the results.

The Sambaza Catch

Main catch: Night-fishing crews mainly target sambaza, a small sardine species known scientifically as Limnothrissa miodon.

How it is eaten: Sambaza is sold fresh or dried and is often fried whole in homes and restaurants around Lake Kivu.

Introduced species: The fish was brought from Lake Tanganyika in 1958, with organised fishing beginning in 1979.

Fishing method: Two connected canoes were gradually replaced by three-canoe systems carrying larger lift nets and more lamps.

Living tradition: Lake Kivu fishing combines long-standing songs and community customs with a more recently developed fishing technique.

Where Can Travellers Hear the Fishermen?

Best location: Karongi, formerly Kibuye, is a popular place to hear Lake Kivu’s singing fishermen.

Ways to experience it: Listen from the shore or join a sunset kayaking or night-fishing trip.

What tours may include: Watching lamps being prepared, learning how nets are used and, on longer trips, observing a net lift.

Before booking: Check the return time, life-jacket provision and whether you will join the fishing boat or watch from another vessel.

Observe the Tradition Respectfully

The fishermen are working, not simply putting on a show. Their income depends on the catch, and lifting the nets requires concentration and careful coordination.

Visitors should follow their guide’s instructions, avoid standing in working areas and ask before photographing crew members at close range.

Joining a small trip organised through a local guide or fishing cooperative can also help ensure that visitor spending reaches the community involved.

More Than a Sunset Performance

The singing fishermen give Lake Kivu a distinctive voice. Their songs regulate movement, lighten demanding work and preserve ties between generations. The lanterns and nets explain how the fish are caught, but the music reveals how the work is shared.

For travellers, hearing the harmonies drift across the darkening lake can be unforgettable. For the fishermen, the song is part of something more grounded: a night’s labour, a crew moving as one and a way of facing the open water together.